Becoming an Adult is Difficult!
by GenkiPlus
Summary: Fred and George Weasley are entering their sixth year at Hogwarts. With their childhood friend Noel in the same house as them, what mischief could a group of teenagers get themselves into? Way too much. Eventual George/OC.
1. Return to the Burrow

**Disclaimer: Obviously, I don't Harry Potter. But I do own Noel Honeybourne, and a few original characters that will be popping up later in the story. :) **

Hopefully you guys will enjoy this story! I've been so busy with work lately that I haven't been writing much. So please be gentle with me, this is my first fanfiction in a few years. ;) But I promise I've grown up quite a bit from my previous stories. I'll do my best to update chapters as much as I can, but with being a working girl, I don't have much free time! **Please read and review!**

**Becoming an Adult is Difficult! Chapter One**

It was an early summer day where Molly Weasley could be found inside of her home near Ottery St. Catchpole, making breakfast. The Burrow, as her home was called, was currently filled with four of her seven children, plus one friend, all sleeping. The only other person who had gotten up earlier was her husband Arthur, who left not too long ago to start his work day at the Ministry. As Molly made her way to the bottom of the stairs to wake everyone up for breakfast, she heard a loud thud coming from one of the bedrooms upstairs. Either someone had fallen out of bed, or her twin sons George and Fred were experimenting again. Molly decided it was too early for Fred and George to be experimenting, so she just assumed someone had taken a tumble out of bed.

Putting one foot on the bottom step, Molly shouted, "Up! Everybody! It's time to come down for breakfast!" She knew her youngest, Ginny, would be the first and only one to come downstairs without much prompting on her end. It was the boys she would have to eventually kick out of their warm, comfy beds. She'd just give them a few more minutes before doing so.

Sure enough, a few moments later, a sleepy-eyed red headed girl trudged down the stairs and bid her mother good morning. "Morning, mum." Ginny took a seat at the table and began to butter her toast. "Doubt anyone else is going to get up willingly." Ginny hinted at her brothers and their friend Harry Potter, who arrived just a few days ago.

Molly turned to look at Ginny. "But hey, they can sleep all day if they want. That just means more food for me." The red headed third year at Hogwarts grinned. Putting her dish towel down, Molly made her way up the stairs to wake everyone else up.

"Boys! All of you, up! Now!" Ginny could hear her mother's voice booming through the house. "Now before your sister eats everything!" Ginny grinned, putting a forkful of eggs in her mouth. Within minutes, loud footsteps could be heard stampeding down the stairs before stopping at the kitchen table. "Don't eat everything!" said her brother Ron. Ron was just a year older than she was, but was almost a good foot taller than her. Ron's best friend, and 'savior of the Wizarding world' for defeating Lord Voldemort, Harry Potter appeared beside him. "Relax, Ron. I doubt Ginny would eat all of the food just to spite you." Harry said as he stuck a hand in his shaggy black hair, trying to wake up.

Ginny grinned, forking some more eggs into her mouth. "I just might, Harry."

With that, Ron quickly dove into the food before Ginny could devour it all and leave absolutely nothing for him. Just as Harry sat down to join them, Molly made it back down the stairs with her twin sons reluctantly following behind her. They sat down at the table without a word, as it was obvious they were still trying to wake up.

"So, who fell out of bed this morning?" Molly asked as she sat down to eat her own breakfast. Ron frowned, indicating it was him. Harry spoke up, "Oh, it wasn't the first time Ron did it. He falls out of his bed loads of times." The grumpy Ron glared at his best friend, shoveling bacon into his mouth as he did so.

"Well, that doesn't surprise me." One of the twins spoke up, it was Fred. "Were the spiders after you again, Ickle Ronniekins?" Fred's twin brother George teased the youngest male Weasley and quickly had to duck as Ron threw a piece of toast towards George's head. "Ouch, baby brother. Don't threaten me with buttery toast." George put his hands up in the air, as if he was surrendering. Fred grinned at the antics as he ate his breakfast.

Molly rolled her eyes at the end of the table, quickly wanting to change the subject. "Hermione will be here sometime tomorrow. So Ginny, I'd like you to tidy up your room a bit, please." The plump woman asked of her only daughter as she finished up her breakfast. Ginny nodded at her mother and took her empty plate up to the sink to wash it. Molly turned to her twin sons and asked, "Do you two know when Noel is going to get here? I haven't been able to talk to her parents recently. They must be busy with work." George's ears perked up and Fred answered before he could, "Last I heard was sometime today."

"Alright then, try to keep this place clean. I don't want our guests thinking we live in a pigsty." Molly said as she finished up her breakfast. Harry smiled from his seat as the twins protested. "But we do live in a pigsty! If you count Ickle Ronniekins to be a pig!" Another piece of toast went zooming by George's head.

* * *

><p>It was later in the afternoon when the second mentioned visitor from the breakfast conversation had arrived. There was a loud knock on the door and three people all scrambled and fought with each other just to be the one to answer the door. Fred, Ginny and George. Ginny was able to trip Fred so he was quickly defeated by the youngest Weasley. George tried to outsmart his only sister by saying something about a 'naked Harry Potter' but she wasn't falling for it. Instead, Ginny quickly ran past him and reached the door before he could. "No fair, little monster!" Fred groaned from the kitchen floor where he laid. George stood behind Ginny as she opened the door to reveal their visitor.<p>

School trunk on the ground behind her, and a bag in each hand stood Noel Honeybourne. She was in the same year as Fred and George at Hogwarts, sixth year. "Whoa, did I hear a stampede approach the door or was it just you two—three?" Noel asked, changing the number to three when she saw Fred sprawled out on the kitchen floor in defeat.

George put a hand in his sister's hair and ruffled it, as if to get some sort of revenge for what she did. "Nah, it was just Ginny trying to get to the door before we could." Ginny grinned triumphantly as she grabbed the two bags out of Noel's hands and begged for her to come in. Ginny was just glad to have another girl in the house, it got terribly annoying with all of her brothers around. Noel turned around to pick up her school trunk, but both Fred and George got to it before she could. "No, m'lady. We'll take care of that for you!" They gave their patent Weasley Twin Smiles and led both Noel and her trunk inside the Burrow.

Noel stepped inside the house and heaved a sigh of relief. This was her vacation, away from her parents, though she loved them dearly, they could get a little too overbearing. Not to mention the Quidditch World Cup was in a few days time, that was always something to look forward to. By the time Ginny placed Noel's bags upstairs, and the twins had placed her trunk in Ginny's room, Molly greeted her guest with a warm smile. "Oh, Noel dear!" She pulled the petite blonde girl in for a hug, which Noel gladly returned. "So nice to see you! Are your parents well?" Noel nodded, indicating that her father was away on business and her mother was out tending to her own mother. "Good, good. Arthur will be pleased to see you when he gets home from work! But I'm afraid dinner won't be for some time, so please, make yourself at home." Molly patted Noel on the shoulder and quickly returned to her work out in the backyard.

* * *

><p>The rest of the day was spent either napping, which is what Ginny had chosen to do, or catching up with each other. Ron and Harry went outside to see if they could catch a few gnomes while Noel and the twins sat in their room, catching up on the last few months of their lives. "Miss me?" Noel asked as she plopped down on Fred's bed, much to his dismay.<p>

"Of course not." Fred replied, tossing a dirty sock at Noel's head.

"Gross. He's lying, isn't he, George?" She looked across the room at George, who was sitting on his own bed. "Probably." George responded, grabbing the sock Fred threw at Noel and tossed it back at his brother. "More like he missed pranking you. You are an easy target.."

Noel sighed, "I do not want another Puking Pastille incident like last year." She shuddered remembering the incident clearly. Fred had tricked her into eating the piece of 'candy' just to see if it would actually work and sure enough, a few moments later it did. "I missed an entire day of classes because of you, Fred Weasley. And a Transfiguration exam." McGonagall wasn't too thrilled with her after that day.

Fred pretended to be upset, "Me m'lady? Oh no, how dare you miss a Transfiguration exam! Instead you got to spend the day with me and my less handsome twin, George." Fred grinned, laying down on his bed. George retaliated by throwing another sock at his brother, this time hitting him right square on the forehead.

Noel had known Fred and George since they were eleven years old. They met on a trip to Diagon Alley where they were all in Flourish and Blotts picking out their books for their first year at Hogwarts. Noel was having trouble reaching a book on a higher shelf when the twins appeared behind her, grabbing it for her. Of course Fred tried to keep the book for himself, but George gave it back to her. After the three of them met again at Hogwarts, they were all sorted into the same house, Gryffindor. They weren't inseparable, as the twin's pranks sometimes drove Noel to insanity when she was trying to eat, sleep, study.. but she did consider them to be some of her closest friends.

But now she was beginning to see them in a different light. Some days, she wanted to murder them for the pranks they played on her. Other days, she couldn't keep her eyes off of them, more like George. She wasn't sure why, but George didn't pick on her quite as often as his brother did. And she appreciated that. Fred could get way out of hand with the pranks, as could George.

What with NEWTs happening this year, venturing to the Quidditch World Cup in a few days, and being reunited with the rest of her friends back at Hogwarts, Noel wasn't sure how her sixth year was going to turn out. She just hoped she didn't lose what little bit of her sanity she had left before it was over.


	2. Rock, Paper, Scissors, Shoot!

**Disclaimer: Once again, I don't own Harry Potter or anything from the Harry Potter universe. JK Rowling does. But however, I do own Noel and a few random original characters that will be popping up in future chapters! Thanks for reading and as always, read and review. It can be encouraging!**

**Becoming an Adult is Difficult!**

**Chapter Two – "Rock, Paper, Scissors, Shoot!"**

George Weasley found himself wide awake later that night. It didn't help that Fred's snoring could be heard from the bed across the room, but he could've sworn he heard a giggle coming from Ginny's nearby room. His youngest sibling and one of his closest friends must be catching up on all the latest 'girly gossip' that drove him crazy. He just wished he could get to sleep, and that Fred would stop bloody snoring! Without much thought, the yawning boy tossed yet another sock in Fred's direction, and the snoring ceased.. for about five minutes. Revenge on his brother later, sleep now. George needed his beauty rest, after all.

* * *

><p>Noel had fallen asleep well after midnight, she and Ginny had spent hours just talking. It was nice having someone else to gossip with, since she spent the last few weeks of her summer vacation working in a muggle bookstore.<p>

Her parents wanted her to get some experience working in the muggle world before entering a job in the wizarding world. Not like she knew what she wanted to do with her life yet. She had aspirations to become a teacher, or perhaps professor, but she doubted it would happen right away. And there was no way she wanted to work in that muggle bookstore for the rest of her life. It was crazy enough dealing with things there that sometimes she just wished she was back at Hogwarts writing essays on how to transfigure an ordinary houseplant into a cup of tea. Or listening to George and Fred argue over what type of underwear Professor Snape wore. Boxers, briefs or frilly women's underwear. Noel had quite some time to figure things out about her future.

The sun rose all too quickly, causing Noel to bury her head under her pillow, waiting for sleep to wash over her again. Sleep did eventually come, if only momentarily. Noel felt someone suddenly bounce onto her bed in the room she shared with Ginny, causing her to grunt. "Oy, ugh!" The petite blonde poked her head out from underneath her pillow to see who her attacker was. "Morning, sleeping beauty!" Not one, but two of her attackers said.

Noel scrambled to sit up, eventually using her hands in an attempt to wrestle with her untamed, curly blonde hair. It always looked like such a wreck in the mornings and she hated it. Her eyes scanned the room for a minute, noticing Ginny wasn't in bed anymore. The red-headed girl always did like getting up early, so she probably went down for breakfast already. "I had no idea I set my alarm clock to '_obnoxious_' before going to bed last night." She rolled her green eyes at the two intruders who were now sitting at the end of her bed.

"Not obnoxious, love," Fred grinned. "We secretly set your alarm to '_incredibly handsome_'!" He continued, his legs dangling off the side of Noel's bed as he spoke.

George added, "Don't forget '_charming_'!"

Noel smacked both of the boys with her pillow, managing to knock Fred onto the floor with a loud thud. Anticipating an attack, George managed to stay seated, grabbing the pillow from his blonde friend.

"Bloody hell, that's cheating!" Fred poked his head up from the end of the bed, frowning.

Noel shook her head, scrambling out of her bed without further incident. "We better head downstairs before your sister eats whatever food's left.." With that, the three of them wandered down the stairs of the Burrow and into the kitchen where they enjoyed a rather loud breakfast with Ginny, Ron, Harry and Molly. Much to Molly's dismay, of course.

* * *

><p>Ron and Harry's best friend, Hermione Granger arrived later that afternoon. She said her hellos to everyone as she got her things settled. Noel wasn't very close with Hermione, maybe because she didn't seem to share the same passion for her schoolwork as Hermione did. Noel wasn't a bad student, but she didn't fret on all of her exams as much as some people did. And fortunately for her, she was one of those people who didn't have to study their behinds off to get decent grades. Studying was a must, but not Noel's number one priority.<p>

Her favorite thing to do at school? Quidditch. Sure, she wasn't the greatest player in the world. But for as long as she could remember, she enjoyed watching it and hearing her father's friends recount stories of quidditch matches they had attended. After Oliver Wood graduated from Hogwarts, she was lucky enough to try out for the team and ended up replacing him as Keeper. Her original intentions were to try out for a new Chaser position, but during the try outs she found herself at ease with blocking the hoops. Fred and George used to joke that she was too small to be wearing so much padding typical for a Keeper. Ginny once told her she looked like she was wearing a suit of armor made entirely out of padding. She had laughed at them and proved them wrong, just because she was shorter than they were didn't mean she couldn't handle it. Fred knew just how strong she could be when it was called for; after all he had gotten too many bloody noses from her to count because of it.

Tomorrow morning they would be heading to the Quidditch World Cup, where Ireland would be seen playing against Bulgaria. Ron was all giddy with excitement to see his favorite player, Viktor Krum, while everyone else was just excited to be going at all. Arthur would be getting everyone up early, minus Ginny who was always up early, and taking them to meet up with the Diggory's before heading off to the camp site.

Getting up at such an early hour resulted in almost everyone going to bed early that evening. Hermione and Noel were sound asleep in Ginny's room. Ron and Harry had gone to bed not too long after dinner. Molly had to practically drag Fred and George to their room so they could get to bed at a decent time. She finally gave up with a huff saying, "That's fine, if you want to get no sleep and not be rested for this trip, it'll be your fault." The twins saw absolutely nothing wrong with this situation.

The twins could now be found in their room, packing for the trip to the Quidditch World Cup the very next morning. More like, Fred was the only one packing as George was sprawled out on his bed seemingly lost in thought.

"We should just pack our stuff together, less stuff we have to carry." Fred told his twin as he shoved a shirt or two into his bag. After not getting a reply right away, Fred decided to try again. "Should we just bring bags with us? I doubt either of us want to carry so much junk with us, that's what the girl's are going to end up doing anyways. Merlin help us if I have to carry Noel's stuff again.." That girl was known for over packing.

A minute or so passed and Fred hadn't heard George reply. "Oh my, I think I'm absolutely in love with Noel Honeybourne! I think I'm going to go ask for her hand in marriage right this moment!"

That got George's attention. Fred smirked. "Welcome back to reality, brother." Fred said, tossing an empty backpack in George's direction. "What's got you taking a trip to La La Land?"

George caught the bag as he sat up. "If you must know," He slid off the bed and made his way to a nearby dresser, picking out some clothes to put into the bag. "I was thinking about tacos." Annoying question deserved an annoying answer.

Fred arched an eyebrow at his twin, grinning. "Tacos? If anything, I thought you were daydreaming about a certain blonde, with a curly mop of hair on top of her head.." As much as George didn't want to admit it, Fred knew that his brother had some sort of feelings for their close friend. Not that he'd ever act on those feelings.

"Shove off, you know I don't." George retaliated, finishing up his packing and laying the bag on the floor next to his bed. The twins surely did enjoy procrastinating, it was just now going on midnight and they were finishing up their packing for the morning.

"Whatever you say!" Fred said, not really believing his brother. "Don't come crying to me if another guy gets to her before you do!" He sang, not trying to anger his brother, but trying to light a fire under his butt. It was obvious to him that George had a bit of a crush on Noel, but he couldn't tell if she felt the same for him. Girls could be difficult to read.

George shot Fred 'a look' from his bed, wanting to throw something much heavier than a sock at him. Like the dresser itself. Or even his bed. "What do I have to do to get you to drop this subject?"

Fred wiggled his eyebrows, grinning. "Somebody's grumpy, do you want me to go get Noel to make you feel.. less grumpy, Grumpy Georgie?" Fred ducked as a shoe flew by his head. "Ouch, twin! I'm so very hurt that you threaten me with physical violence!"

Laying down on his bed, George sighed. "Sorry, Fred. Maybe I'm just tired. We'll talk about this in the morning. Away from prying eyes and ears." He hinted at his sister and their friend. He didn't want anyone else knowing about this until he figured everything out himself first. If he did in fact like Noel more than a friend, he was going to figure things out on his own terms. Nor was he going to rush into anything.

George rested his head on his pillow and was about to close his eyes when he heard Fred make a noise. Looking up, he saw Fred kneeling next to his bed with one hand behind his back. "We never decided who the unlucky one was," At first he didn't realize what was going on, but then remembered as he sat up in bed. Earlier that evening they were discussing who had to do all of the heavy bag carrying on the way to the World Cup the next morning.

Their way of solving this problem?

Playing 'rock, paper, scissors', of course.

"One, two, three, shoot!" George held out his hand to indicate he had chosen paper. Fred had chosen rock. "Bloody hell!" Fred cursed after George defeated him for the best out of three.

"Maybe I'll tell Ginny to bring her whole room, just so you'd have to carry it all." George winked before crawling back into bed. "And we'll make everything pink. Because I think pink suits you well."

"Dear Georgie, you know pink clashes with my beautiful red hair. We cannot let this happen. I have a reputation to withhold here." Fred grimaced at the thought. "Now go to sleep, I don't know about you, but I need my beauty rest for the World Cup. I can't let the girls out there see me like this."

For once, George obliged, letting sleep fall over him. Knowing full well that he had fallen asleep before Fred had.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: I'm so sorry this chapter is terrible! It was meant to be a bit of a filler, introductory type thing. But it didn't really turn out that way. And I was incredibly distracted while writing this one. Maybe next time, I shouldn't do my writing while at work? ;3 <strong>


	3. The 422nd Quidditch World Cup

**Disclaimer: As per usual, I don't own Harry Potter! The wonderful JK Rowling does. But however, I do own Noel Honeybourne and a few random characters that will be popping up in future chapters! And as always, if you enjoyed reading this, PLEASE REVIEW. Reviews can be very encouraging in the continuation of my fics~!**

**Becoming an Adult is Difficult!**

**Chapter Three – "Quidditch World Cup"**

Morning came much too quickly for everyone in the Burrow. Barely any words were exchanged during breakfast since everyone was still attempting to wake up from a night of minimal sleep. Ginny and Hermione were perhaps the most awake out of the bunch.

Eventually, Arthur Weasley led the group out of the Burrow, with Molly waving goodbye to them from the front step, since she couldn't make it to the game. The group's destination? The portkey up on Stoatshead Hill.

George wasn't exactly thrilled that they had to walk there, but it was tolerable. Fred walked alongside him, still trying to wake up. Noel was walking on George's other side. He couldn't help but sneak a few quick glances her way. Her long hair fell in messy blonde curls, and she thankfully kept it down that day. Every once in a while she'd attempt to rub the sleep from her pale green eyes.

Fred took notice to this and smacked George's arm mouthing, '_Go for it!'_ George smacked him on the shoulder, which caused Noel to look at the twins suspiciously.

"Violence so early in the morning, Georgie?" Noel asked.

"Yeah, Georgie." Fred mocked.

George rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. Thankfully, Ron and Harry chose that exact moment to catch up with them. "Are we there yet?" Ron whined.

Hermione, who was walking ahead with Arthur and Ginny, turned around now walking backwards. "We're getting there, Ron. Calm down."

The twins snorted at Hermione's words and at Ron's reaction. He looked like his shoulders slumped forward in defeat.

"Somebody's grumpy today." Noel said, shifting the backpack she brought with her from one shoulder to both shoulders. Much easier to carry it this way.

George was about to ask Noel if he could carry her backpack for her, even though Fred was supposed to, when their entire group came to a sudden halt.

They had reached Stoatshead Hill, where they saw Amos Diggory there waiting for them.

"Amos! Good to see you!" Arthur approached his friend, the two of them shook hands.

"Likewise, Arthur!" Amos said, smiling. "Hello, everyone." He looked behind Arthur to see Ginny, Ron, Harry and Hermione nodding and smiling at him. The twins and Noel were behind the others, Noel and George said help to Amos whereas Fred said, "I thought Cedric was coming along too?" Curiously, none of them had seen Cedric around yet.

"Good eye, Fred." Said a voice above them. Jumping down from a nearby tree branch was Cedric Diggory, Amos' son.

When Cedric had jumped from the tree branch, he had nearly plowed Noel into the ground. The blonde girl yelped, falling over onto her backside. "Ack!" Noel wasn't known for being a clumsy girl, but she couldn't help when random people jumped out of trees at her. She was bound to fall down or get a complex from it.

Cedric smiled as he knelt next to her, offering a hand to pull her up. "Sorry about that. Miscalculated my landing, I s'pose." Noel gladly took his hand and within seconds was hoisted back to her feet.

Standing next to the commotion were Fred and George, the second mentioned didn't look too thrilled with what he saw. Fred elbowed George's side, as if trying to tell him to intercept and fend off the youngest Diggory. George sighed, batting Fred's elbow away.

"It's okay. Probably just lost my balance." Noel smiled at Cedric, a few blonde curls fell into her eyes.

Cedric still had hold of Noel's hand. And George wanted to give him a swift kick in the –

"Alright, everybody!" A voice interrupted George's angry thoughts. "We'll be traveling by portkey to the sight of the World Cup. Now I assume everyone here has traveled by portkey minus," Arthur said, scanning their little group for the only two who hadn't used a portkey before. "Harry and Hermione."

Harry looked confused, and he couldn't be blamed for it. "What exactly is a portkey? Or what kind of objects can be used as portkeys?" The dark haired boy asked Arthur Weasley, looking back and forth between him and Amos Diggory, who seemed thrilled to be in the presence of the famous Harry Potter.

A few moments passed with Amos and Arthur attempting to explain the use of portkeys to Harry, since Hermione had obviously read up on them previously. "Portkeys can be anything, Harry. Unobtrusive things, just so muggles won't go picking them up by mistake and getting sent somewhere in a different country." Arthur told Harry, who nodded at him. "There are over two hundred portkeys placed around Britain so people can travel to the Quidditch World Cup!"

"But the one we'll be using is this," Arthur moved from view so everyone saw it. A dark brown, tattered old boot.

"So that's where Percy's other boot went," Fred said from the back of the group. This caused Noel and Ginny to laugh. "Looks like the boot is having a better life than it had _with_ Ol' Perce." Arthur shot Fred a look, Fred stopped but kept grinning.

The group of ten all approached the old boot, and after an explanation of what to do, where to go from Arthur, they each placed a hand on it.

Noel had always hated traveling by portkey. It made her feel so nauseous after landing, and would honestly prefer traveling by floo powder instead. No matter how hard she tried, like keeping her eyes closed, or attempting to imagine she was doing something else, she always felt sick afterwards.

The landing was also another horrible part of traveling by portkey. You never knew how or where you were going to land. This particular portkey travel was an interesting one, for Noel found herself not landing on the hard ground this time. She found herself landing on a certain Weasley twin. A certain George Weasley.

"Oof!" She heard George breathe out when he felt the impact of Noel landing on top of him. George looked up to see that Noel had pinned him down on the ground, not that she tried it on purpose. A few of her blonde curls fell into his face.

"Oh, George! I'm so sorry!" Noel had quickly scrambled off of him, much to his dismay. George could've sworn he saw his twin standing behind Noel, grinning at the sight before him. And Fred was enjoying it. "I didn't mean to fall on you! Are you okay?"

Fred still stood behind Noel and mouthed to George, '_Liar!' _

"I'm fine, Noel. I highly doubt you could cause physical harm to me. You weigh next to nothing!" He teased her. Noel shot him a sweet smile, glad to see that she hadn't punctured one of his lungs or something. "Just you wait, I'll eat nothing but mashed potatoes and pie all year. I'll bulk up!" She pretended to flex her arms.

George sighed when Noel got to her feet, then he attempted to do the same. He shot Fred a glare and smacked his arm once Noel turned around. She was clearly embarrassed to have fallen on top of George like that.

Turns out, almost everyone else had a rough landing. Hermione, Ginny and Harry seemed to land in a pile. Ron landed flat on his behind. Fred narrowly missed landing on top of Ron, which he was thankful he didn't do. Amos, Arthur and Cedric all seemed to land perfectly.

'_Showoff._' George thought as Cedric landed on his feet.

* * *

><p>The next few hours flew by. They made it to the campsite and got settled down. George was thankful that Amos and Cedric were staying in a separate tent, because if he saw Cedric giving Noel googly eyes one more time, he was going to chuck a chair at his pretty little head.<p>

Camping as a wizard was an amazing experience, the tents were tiny on the outside but looked like they could easily be a house on the inside. Noel wasn't sure how the muggles were able to camp their own way, she wouldn't be able to survive sleeping in one tiny, cramped tent with seven other people.

Ginny shared a room in the tent with Hermione and Noel. Harry and Ron shared a room with George and Fred. And Arthur was by himself in his own room. The tent also housed a bathroom, a kitchen and a sitting area.

Everyone minus Arthur, who had gone out to scope their surroundings with a few of his Ministry co-workers that he met up with, could be found occupying the sitting room. Hermione suggested that they go also check out their surroundings, but only Harry and Ron went with her. That left Ginny, Noel and the twins behind.

Fred and Ginny were sitting on the floor, playing a muggle card game on the coffee table. Noel and George sat next to each other on the sofa next to the table. "Bloody hell, Ginny!" Fred cursed at Ginny, she just won a game and Fred wasn't pleased. Ginny grinned, throwing Noel a look that she couldn't quite make out.

Ginny cocked her head in George's direction, as if she was trying to tell her friend to scoot closer to him. Unfortunately, Fred looked up at his sister as she was doing so. "What in the name of Merlin is going on?" He asked her, Ginny tried to shut Fred up but wasn't sure what to do. In the heat of the moment, she threw a nearby sofa pillow at him.

That shut him up quickly.

Fred rubbed the back of his neck, glaring at his little sister. "Such violence, dear Ginny."

"Well, I'm sorry your ginormous head was in my way." She grinned at him and they went back to their card game.

Without realizing, Noel scooted a few inches closer to George on the sofa. "I take it you're not looking forward to going back to school." The blonde asked her redheaded friend.

George shook his head, "It's not that. I'm more like looking forward to getting away from mum. She's furious with Fred and I."

On the floor in front of them, Fred nodded in agreement with his twin.

"How so?" Noel asked.

"OWLs results. Fred and I got three. Each. She's not pleased with us." George grinned, letting a hand unknowingly fall and rest on Noel's knee. "At least we got six total!" Fred shouted from the floor.

Noel hadn't noticed, "Three each?" She didn't want to say she agreed with Molly being frustrated. The blonde Gryffindor knew that the twins were smart, but they rarely tried when they were in classes. They were too busy experimenting, or flirting with the girls to pay much attention.

"How many did you get, Noel?" The blonde shook her head, curls flying into her face as she did so. "You don't really want to know." She didn't like to brag and she didn't want to make Fred and George feel bad.

"Nah, I'm curious." George asked, moving his hand from her knee and poking Noel's side lightly with an index finger.

She squirmed slightly, George took mental note that his blonde friend must be ticklish. Blackmail, used for later. He grinned. "If you must know, I got six OWLs." Noel answered him.

"Lucky! But I'm fine with getting just three." George nodded, silently proud that Noel had gotten loads more OWLs than he did. "We can't all be as smart as our dear widdle Noelikins!" Fred cackled as he plopped down on the sofa next to the blonde, she was now stuck in between the Weasley twins.

Ginny grinned like mad from the floor as she picked up the cards they had just played with, starting to sort them.

Noel didn't want to say which subjects she got the OWLs in, so she quickly changed the subject by standing up and pretending to yawn. "I don't know about you guys but I'm tired!" She stretched, putting her hands above her head as she did so. She didn't notice George staring at her, but both Fred and Ginny did.

"I'm going to take a nap before we go to the game. Ginny, can you wake me up before we leave?" Noel asked her, she didn't want to trust either Fred or George to wake her up. Oh, they'd wake her up on time, but they'd probably set her hair on fire _again_ in an attempt to wake her up.

Once Noel was in the other room, presumably fast asleep, Ginny took a nearby spoon and tossed it at George. "And what the heck was that?"

Dodging the spoon, George frowned. "What the bloody hell was that for, Ginny?" He questioned his little sister.

"You. Noel. Super close together. Why didn't you do something about it?" Ginny plopped down on the sofa next to Fred and George. "You. Like. Her." She placed her hands on George's shoulders and shook him. "Do something about it!"

Fred was snickering at the sight, and pretended not to care so he couldn't stop Earthquake Ginny. "You're going to shake his brain right out of his head, Ginny. So by all means, please continue."

"Merlin! Ginny, please stop!" She obliged, sitting next to George with her arms crossed against her chest. "Geez, okay, maybe I do! But give me some time, okay?" He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "I need to figure things out first, okay?"

"Fine. But," Her arms were still crossed against her chest as she spoke. "You need to do something before Cedric does." Ginny seemed serious.

_Diggory_. George scowled. "I'll just have to do whatever I can to woo her before pretty boy Hufflepuff does."

"What do you think Fred, think we sho—" George turned to see if Fred was even listening to him and found him sound asleep on the sofa next to him. "Never mind, want to grab something eat and we can talk more about this, Gin?" George asked his little sister as he stood up from the sofa.

"Yes! Besides, you and I would make a great team. I can help you plot!" Ginny had a mischievous grin on her face as she and George left the tent to find the others.

* * *

><p>The Quidditch World Cup was amazing! Bulgaria vs. Ireland. It proved to be a spectacular game. Despite having seats high up, it didn't affect how Noel saw the game at all. After all, Noel was just one in nearly one hundred thousand spectators to this prestigious event. Who knew when she'd be able to see another Quidditch World Cup game?<p>

Noel didn't go all out in sporting green for the team she was rooting for, Ireland. Let's say, she didn't go all out as say Ron did as he was supporting Bulgaria _and_ Ireland. Ron was the odd one out of the bunch, he wore a mix of scarlet and green. He was still supporting Ireland, even though Viktor Krum from Bulgaria was one of his favorite players.

"We should ask Ron when his wedding to Viktor Krum is," Fred joked, elbowing Noel's arm lightly. She snickered at the thought.

Their group decided to wear supporting colors, as Noel had. She had on a green short sleeved shirt, and kept it simple by wearing jean shorts. The only drastic thing she had done was added green streaks to her hair. George thought it matched her well, and the random few green curls made her light green eyes pop. Not that he admitted that out loud, of course.

Ginny gave him a thumbs up from her seat a few people down from George. Their earlier conversation had encouraged him, so maybe after the game George would make a move.

For now, the group would enjoy the game. They watched in amazement as both teams managed to score, with Ireland to come out ahead, leading Bulgaria 130 to 10. Soon after, one of Ireland's chasers was fouled, causing quite a lot of noise coming from the rambunctious crowd.

"Merlin, no!" Ron shouted at something as he pointed towards Viktor Krum, Bulgaria's Seeker.

One of Ireland's Beaters, presumably Quigley, had slammed a bludger in Krum's direction. But he wasn't able to move fast enough. The bludger collided with his face, and ended up breaking his nose. "Ouch!" Hermione frowned at the mayhem. "I wouldn't want to get smacked in the nose like that." She shook her head, discouraged.

Noel turned to Hermione, grinning. "Oh trust me, you don't want to get hit by a bludger, period. Especially if it came from one of those two chuckleheads." She jabbed her thumb in the direction of George and Fred, who were sitting next to her.

Within the next few minutes of the game, it was a race between Ireland's Seeker, Lynch and Krum to see who could get to the snitch first. But Ireland wasn't able to get to the snitch first. Krum had gotten to it before Lynch could. But with Ireland being so many points ahead of Bulgaria, they ended up defeating Bulgaria even thought they didn't catch the snitch. The final score was Ireland 170, Bulgaria 160.

Most of the crowd erupted in cheers. "Yes!" Noel shouted, jumping up and down, blonde and green curls bouncing along with her. She turned to her right and threw her arms around George, hugging him with excitement.

George didn't hesitate and wrapped his arms around her small waist, completely ignoring the looks he knew Fred and Ginny were giving him right now. He couldn't wipe the big grin off of his face even if he tried.

* * *

><p>They were too excited to sleep after the game. Too much adrenaline, sugar and the fact that most of them had taken naps that afternoon prevented them from falling asleep.<p>

Everyone seemed too excited, the twins were dancing in the kitchen, singing the Irish Quidditch song, much to Ron's dismay. Harry and Hermione were sitting on the sofa, watching the antics going on in the kitchen. Ginny and Noel sat opposite of Hermione and Harry, giggling at Ron who looked incredibly depressed that his precious Viktor Krum had his nose smashed to bits.

And that's when everything flipped upside down.

Arthur had poked his head in the tent and a few seconds later, running in, causing everyone to get quiet. "Everyone, we have to go. Now." His voice was serious.

The twins stopped their singing and dancing, everyone else looked at Mr. Weasley, unsure of what was going on. "Now! Everyone! Leave everything behind. I'm not joking." The tone of his voice worried Noel, as she stood up quickly and held her hand out for Ginny to grab.

"What's going on?" Harry asked as everyone followed Arthur out of the tent. No one needed to answer Harry's question. It looked like a riot. But why? Were the Bulgarian supporters that angry that Ireland won? It couldn't be.

"Can't explain now. But you all need to get back to the portkey. Fred. George. Noel. Take care of Ginny, she's your responsibility!" Arthur said, then looked to Ron, Hermione and Harry. "You three, keep close to the twins and Noel. I can't have you guys getting separated!" He gave his family a brief smile before continuing, "I'll meet you back at the Burrow as soon as I can. But now, go! Portkey!" And with that, he ran off in the opposite direction from where people were running.

There were people everywhere. Tents were being abandoned, people were screaming, it was like a sea of people were headed their way. Some of the tents had been set aflame, that was the first thing Noel had noticed. '_This can't be just some ordinary Quidditch riot_' Noel frowned at her thoughts.

Her thoughts were immediately broken when George grabbed her free hand with his own, much stronger, bigger hand. "Come on!" And they ran. George had a tight grip on Noel, who in turn had her own hand gripping Ginny's. Fred had taken Ginny's other hand. Even though Fred could be a huge pain in her ass, it was nice seeing him be so protective of his baby sister.

With all the chaos going on around them, they weren't sure exactly where they were heading. Ginny and Noel stumbled a few times, it was difficult having Fred and George lead the way since their running strides were much larger than Noel's.

"This is not the time to fall flat on your face, Honeybourne!" Fred said, running a few feet away from her.

"Sorry that I can't keep up with you giants!" Noel huffed, attempting to keep up with George.

"Don't make me pick you up and toss you over my shoulder!"George shouted in front of her.

"Maybe you should!" Ginny also shouted, they were beginning to get away from the majority of the people, but they weren't out of the woods yet.

Noel stopped, but the others didn't notice right away. "Uh, guys?" Her voice was loud enough for them to hear her, so they finally stopped. "We lost Ron, Harry and Hermione!"

Sure enough, they did. George mentally cursed himself and looked over at Fred.

"Go on without me, I'll just go find them!" Noel turned to the other three, blonde and green curls flying as she did so. "I'll meet you back at the Burrow!" She flashed a quick smile before running back where they had just come from.

"Noel!" George and Fred both shouted at their friend's retreating back.

"Ugh, bloody hell. Damn girl!" Fred cursed, his hand still gripping Ginny's tightly.

"Dad's going to murder us." Ginny said, but what she didn't say was she wanted to follow Noel and see if she could help. "This is the worst possible situation." George put a hand on top of his head, ruffling up his chin-length red hair in frustration. "Okay. You take Ginny to the portkey. Hide if you can. I'm going to grab Noel and see if I can find Ron and the others. I don't care if dad kills us, we can't just let the four of them go like that!"

Fred nodded at his twin, "Be careful. Can't have the less handsome twin dying on me now can I?" And with that, Fred took Ginny and sprinted back to the hills.

Taking a deep breath, George ran back into the crowds, shouting Noel's name and looking for his youngest brother at the same time. Hopefully he didn't regret doing this.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Wow, that chapter turned out a lot longer than anticipated! First of all, I'd like to thank all who have reviewed so far! It's always encouraging to see the reviews, though I wish there were a few more there.<strong>

**Second of all, Merry Christmas to those reading this that celebrate! And if not, Happy Hanukkah! I'll probably take a break from writing for the next day or two, so the next chapter will be up sometime after Christmas. Unfortunately, I have to head back to work the day after Christmas, but it won't be a big deal.**


	4. Love is Worrisome

**Disclaimer: As I've stated in previous chapters, I don't own Harry Potter or anything from the Harry Potter universe. JK Rowling does. But! I do however own Noel Honeybourne and a few random characters that will be popping up in future chapters! And as always, if you enjoyed reading this/took the time to actually read this, PLEASE REVIEW! Reviews can be encouraging and sadly if things don't start picking up, I'm not sure if I'll continue. But! I want to. ;)**

**Becoming an Adult is Difficult!**

**Chapter Four – Love is Worrisome**

It seemed like she had been running for hours. When in reality it was just moments ago that she tore away from her companions to look for their missing brother and his friends. There was a riot going on, and she wasn't sure who was behind it, what was going on. Or if she was going to make it out in one complete piece.

Noel huffed as she ran through the crowds looking for Ron, Hermione and Harry. Most everyone had run off at this point, leaving the blonde girl almost completely alone. Save for a few people running past her in the opposite direction.

She stopped for a moment and examined her surroundings. Still burning tents, Quidditch paraphernalia, anything you could imagine littered the ground. Her ears perked up when she heard the sound of approaching footsteps, and quickly ran straight for the woods. She just hoped she'd run into Ron or the others before whoever had been following her did.

Taking refuge behind a rather large tree stump, her pale green eyes peered out to see four hooded figures standing where she had been just moments ago. They had stopped and they seemed to be talking about something. Unfortunately, Noel couldn't make out a single word they were saying, since they were too far out of earshot. She slouched to the ground, practically on her stomach at that point, in an attempt to remain unseen. Her own hand was clamped over her mouth as about a million thoughts raced through her head at this point.

Were those really the Death Eaters that she'd heard her parents talk about? She'd obviously never seen one in person before, but had heard of their attire in a few of her _History of_ _Magic_ classes. What didn't make sense was why they were here? At the Quidditch World Cup? Shouldn't they be either in hiding because Voldemort had long since been defeated all those years ago by an infant Harry Potter? Weren't the majority of the Death Eaters from the war locked up in Azkaban? Surely it made sense to the blonde that they were, but it still didn't explain what they were doing here on a warm night in August.

Barely able to breathe at this point, Noel was afraid to look and see if the Death Eaters were still standing in the same spot, talking. She mentally cursed at them to go away, to go away so she herself could run. If they moved any closer to that bloody tree stump she was hiding behind, she was doomed.

But instead of chickening out, she slowly but surely crept herself upwards to take a peek. She was thankful it was completely dark out, otherwise she would've been spotted in an instant. It was one of the many negatives of having such obnoxious hair.

The group of four Death Eaters were still standing there, still talking about something. It seemed as if they were strategizing about something, because the one standing closest to her had their arms waving all about. She could hear a few words every now and then, the only things she was able to make out were '_Muggles_', '_torture_' and '_Roberts_'. The name Roberts didn't sound familiar to her. But then again, she was a bit preoccupied at the moment.

'_Please, just go! Just go, just go!' _Noel thought to herself as she lay there, watching the scene in front of her.

Just then, the group of Death Eaters shifted and they went off in another direction from the one they came in. And thankfully, it wasn't towards her tree stump. Just when they were far enough away and out of her sight, Noel leaned against the stump and heaved a sigh of relief.

Instead of running like she originally planned, Noel stayed planted to the ground, simply afraid to move. She knew she eventually had to go back. She could either resume her search for Hermione and the others, or she could go back the way she came and hopefully find the twins and Ginny again. Noel now saw the flaw in her plan, _never run off during a riot on your own_. Boy, did she ever regret doing that.

A few moments later, and still seeing no movement around her, Noel stood up. She had just decided to go back and find Ginny, George and Fred. After all, it would be better if they searched for Harry, Hermione and Ron together. And if she continued on her own, there might not be another decent hiding place if she ran into the Death Eaters again.

Placing her hand in her back shorts pocket, the blonde made sure her wand was still there. Phew, good. With all the shuffling around she'd been doing, she was glad it didn't pop out somewhere. But for safe measure, she grabbed the wand and held it tightly in her hand. If she needed to defend herself, she might as well be semi-prepared for it.

* * *

><p>George felt like everything was his fault. First of all, he had lost track of his youngest brother and his two best friends during a riot at the Quidditch World Cup. And second of all, he let one of <em>his<em> best friends run off on her very own looking for them. If Noel had stuck around a moment longer, he would've either attempted to talk her out of it, or just gone himself.

The redhead knew that Fred and Ginny were safe; he saw them go into hiding when he ran off to find Noel and Ron. So that was one less thing he had to worry about. Now he just had to concentrate on finding the other four, and not get killed in the process.

What had earlier in the day been bustling with witches and wizards, excited to be seeing the finals of the Quidditch world cup, was now seemingly a ghost town. Most of the tents that had been set ablaze before had since burned themselves out. There was no one around chanting about Ireland's triumph over Bulgaria. No laughing children playing about.

This was one of those times that George disliked how Noel was such a fast runner. He and Fred always used to joke that because of her small size, she could easily breeze past most people. She wasn't the quickest in the world by any means, but when the situation called for it, she could be. With his blonde friend being so determined to find everyone, she could've been ages ahead of him, no matter how large his strides were.

It hadn't taken him very long to look down and spot a pair of footprints that he'd been following. He recognized almost instantly by the imprints that they were Noel's; she had a knack for wearing the same blue sneakers with a design on the bottoms. It was easy enough to see with some of the nearby tents still burning slightly. He came to a halt when he reached a clearing, just near a cluster of trees. After seeing nobody there, then decided to walk back in the direction he came from. Maybe he just imagined everything, that he really didn't see Noel's footprints, and that he really didn't lose his brother and one of his closest friends on the same night.

George hadn't walked very far when he heard something coming from right where he'd just been standing. It sounded like a rustle of leaves, so he quickly turned around to see what caused it.

Sure enough, he saw Noel. She must've been hiding somewhere among the trees. And without much thinking, his legs began working on their own. He broke off into a run towards his blonde friend.

* * *

><p>Noel walked around the tree stump and took a few steps before she saw a figure approaching her. For a brief second she was terrified it was one of the Death Eaters before coming back because they knew she was hiding there as they had their talk earlier. But upon further squinting, she saw that whoever was approaching was tall, and had what looked to be chin-length bright red hair flying behind them.<p>

The petite blonde girl exhaled a sigh of relief when she saw it was George running towards her and not some murderous Death Eater. Wand still held tightly in her right hand, she took off in a sprint towards George.

The pair came to a halt when they met up in the middle of their sprint. Noel craned her neck so she could get a glimpse of George, almost checking to make sure everything was alright. Then she realized she still had a firm grip on her wand, so she placed in into her pack shorts pocket again. "George.."

The tall redhead was so relieved to see that the petite blonde standing before him was alright. She looked unharmed, minus a few scratches here and there, mainly on her arms and a few on her cheek. His brown eyes scanned her own green ones to see that she looked truly relieved.

"_George…_" Just hearing her soft voice say his name made his heart skip a beat..

Before he could answer and before she could say anything else, he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled Noel into a tight hug. To which Noel gladly returned by wrapping her arms around his waist, letting her cheek rest against his chest. She could've sworn she heard his heartbeat accelerate..

It felt like an eternity, the two of them standing there like that. George reluctantly pulled away from Noel, grinning down at her. "If you run off like that again, I'm going to have to kill you myself." She smiled, retaliating with a "Good luck trying, Weasley!"

Noel wasn't sure how she forgot, but she suddenly whipped her head around to check their surroundings. Brushing a few curls out of her eyes, she looked back at George. "We should probably go." The redhead looked slightly confused, but nodded. "I tried to find Ron and the others but got a little.. sidetracked." She frowned, remembering her near run in with a small group of what she presumed to be Death Eaters.

George nodded at her response, "Let's go back to Fred and Ginny, we'll decide what to do after that." Noel couldn't agree more. Next time she wouldn't go running off on her own. She'd at least think about it next time. _Maybe_. We'll see.

The two walked next to each other along the path George had just taken to get there. They both kept an eye out for anything strange or anything that could jump out of one of the abandoned tents at them. Noel kept thinking how frustrated she was with herself. She had set out to find the others, not go back to Fred and Ginny completely empty handed. She frowned as she stepped forward, stuffing her hands into the front pockets of her shorts.

Every once in awhile, George would look down at her as they walked. He desperately wanted to say something to her, but couldn't find the right words. He wanted to yell at her for running off like that by herself. But then again, he just wanted to pull her into his arms and say just how thankful he was that she wasn't hurt beyond what looked to be a papercut.

They continued the rest of their walk almost in complete silence. George mainly because he wasn't sure what to say to Noel. And Noel was quiet because she was too busy worrying over the Death Eaters she saw that night. Should she tell George about them, or not? He'd probably like to know. But maybe it was better if she casually forgot to mention it? Sighing, she decided to just tell him. It would be better if she told him now rather than in front of Ginny.

"George?" Her voice was quiet as they walked along the path that lead to _hopefully_ Fred and Ginny.

"Hmm?" George looked down at her, trying to keep his strides short so Noel didn't have to jog just to keep up with him.

Noel tugged at her blonde hair nervously before continuing. "Before you found me.. When I'd been looking for Ron, I sort of ran into someone." She let go of the piece of hair she was toying with, her hands falling at her sides. "Not literally, of course. Because if I literally ran into them, I'd probably not be here right now."

George arched an eyebrow at her curiously as she spoke. He was now completely confused.

"Death Eaters, George. I think the Death Eaters were behind this riot." Or whatever it was.

George frowned and stopped walking for a moment. They were far enough away from the camp site that it wouldn't hurt them to stop for a minute or two. "You saw Death Eaters? But they can't be around, or shouldn't be. What makes you think they were Death Eaters?"

"For one, they had **DEATH EATER** stamped across their shirts in bright pink sparkly letters! No you dolt!" Noel smacked George's arm, frowning. "Pointy, creepy hoods. Those weird mask things. I can't describe everything, you know. I was too busy hiding behind a bloody tree stump to keep them from seeing me!" She huffed, crossing her arms over her chest as she took the opportunity to keep walking. If George wouldn't believe what she saw, then so be it. She knew what she saw. That's all that mattered.

Just what he needed, losing his youngest brother during a riot and having his best friend act like a grumpy little girl who just lost her favorite doll to an unfortunate hair cutting incident. George just blamed it on Noel being tired. Most people got grumpy when they were tired, but when Noel got tired? It was like the bloody Apocalypse.

"Okay, okay." Holding his hands up as if he had surrendered to her, he started following the blonde. "I believe you. Since I highly doubt you'd make it up in the first place." George placed a hand on her shoulder, grinning at her. Noel looked up at him and gave him a faint smile.

"Well, well, well. It's about bloody time you two showed up." Fred had popped out from behind a tree, grin spread widely across his face. Ginny had emerged from behind him, looking a bit more sleepy than Noel felt at the moment.

Noel and George stopped walking once they reached the other two. Their blonde friend told her story about her encounter, as much as she didn't want to tell Ginny. "You're pure-blooded, Honeybourne. It's not like they would've killed you on the spot." Fred joked, his back now resting against the tree he was sitting in front of.

"Shove off." Noel rolled her green eyes at Fred before continuing. "So next time the Death Eaters just happen to pop up nearby, you stroll by them and see what they do. I highly doubt they're going to ask you to a nice game of Quidditch if you know what I mean." She huffed again, getting irritable from the lack of sleep the entire group wasn't getting.

The four of them had been sitting behind a tree for almost an hour now. With no signs of Ron, Harry or Hermione. Or Mr. Weasley. Or anyone else for that matter. The commotion had ceased at this point it seemed, that was until a loud noise caught everyone's attention.

Off in the direction George and Noel had ventured from, an image of sorts appeared in the sky. It was hard to make out at first, but became more clear as the seconds rolled on. Noel gasped, covering her mouth with her hand as she saw what it was finally. George and Fred couldn't believe what they saw. And Ginny? Her arm was linked with Noel's, the same shocked expression clouding over her face.

It was the Dark Mark. The sign of Lord Voldemort.

"Well," Fred chimed in, trying to 'lighten up' the mood. "We're screwed."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: I feel like this chapter took me forever to write! Sorry if it doesn't live up to everyone's standards, I was in a bit of an iffy mood while writing the majority of this. You can blame work for that one! Hope everyone had a lovely holiday! Please read and review~!<strong>


	5. Distracting Hair Bows

**Disclaimer: As stated in previous chapters, I do not own Harry Potter or the Harry Potter universe! JK Rowling does. ;) I do however own Noel Honeybourne and a few original characters that will be popping up in this chapter and future chapters. And as always, if you enjoyed reading this or have put this story on alert [which quite a few of you have, thank you so much!] please review! Reviews can be very encouraging! Thank you!**

**Becoming an Adult is Difficult!**

**Chapter Five – Distracting Hair Bows**

Everything that happened the night of the Quidditch World Cup seemed to be a blur now. After the Dark Mark appeared in the sky over the campsite, Harry Potter along with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger were found in the forest not too far from where they thought the Dark Mark was produced. Members of the Ministry found them, including Arthur Weasley. Among the group was Bartemius Crouch, Head of the Department International Magical Cooperation, who in turn attempted to blame Harry Potter for being the one who conjured the Dark Mark in the sky. Turns out nearby a house-elf named Winky had somehow gotten a hold of Harry's wand and is believed to have produced the Dark Mark on her own.

Everyone had made it back to the Burrow eventually, safe and sound. Molly was absolutely having a fit when she saw Fred and George return, saying something about how she didn't want the last thing she ever said to them to be about not getting enough OWLs.

It was all such a long, complicated story that Noel had been trying to piece together since the incident happened. For now, she was trying to forget what happened, as hard as it was to forget, and try to concentrate on the fact that she was heading back to Hogwarts for her sixth year today. Her second to last year in school, the year where she would have to study her behind off if she wanted to get good grades and hopefully not die trying.

Four out of the Seven Weasley children were all standing on Platform 9 ¾ saying their goodbyes to their parents before they boarded the Hogwarts Express. Harry and Hermione had already said their goodbyes to Arthur and Molly before boarding the train themselves with their belongings.

"Now behave yourselves, you two." Molly said to her twin sons, Fred and George right before they boarded the train. "I don't want another owl this year about you two attempting to blow another toilet up!" Or worse. Multiple toilets at once. Again.

"No need to worry, dear mother!" Fred shouted from his window on the train. "We'll be perfect little angels! If perfect little angels blew up bathroom fixtures, of course!" George finished his brother's thought before sitting down across from him.

Molly shook her head in frustration, but Noel smiled at her. "I'll keep an eye on them for you." She gave Molly a quick hug before she hopped onto the train. "I trust you, but please don't let them set your hair on fire again. It looks so nice when it's long!" Molly waved to them as the train began to move. Arthur smiled as he stood beside his wife, the pair of them waving to their children and those they consider to be like their children as the train took off.

They were finally off to Hogwarts. Having the compartment to themselves, Noel sat down in the seat next to George, and Fred sat across from George, putting his feet up in-between Noel and George. "It's about time we're on our own. Mum's been absolutely crazy since the whole riot at the Cup game." Fred ruffled his hair as he took notice to George's glaring at him for the position of his feet.

"You think that's bad? I'm not even her daughter and she was fretting over me!" Noel laughed.

"Well, you might as well be with everything going on.." George frowned, turning to the blonde girl sitting next to him. The green highlights in her hair from before had now been replaced with purple highlights. He had to admit, he liked her fascination with putting random colored streaks into her hair.

Noel looked over at George and smiled, "What do you mean by that?"

Fred grinned at his brother before George continued, "Mum enjoys having you over. You're not some horrible demon spawn like we are. I guess you could say you're like another daughter to her."

"Except!" Fred interrupted, getting up to ruffle Noel's hair playfully, "Your hair makes you standout a bit. Not red and all, maybe you should make it red next time!"

Noel rolled her eyes, batting Fred's arm away. "No thank you, mum would kill me if all the blonde disappeared. I can barely get away with this." She held up a purple curl in her hands, frowning. It took her forever just to convince her mother it was alright to put random colored streaks in her hair. Her mother on the other hand has decided this was just some sort of 'phase' Noel was going through. And that she'll 'hopefully grow out of it soon'.

Before the trio could continue their conversation, there was a knock on the compartment door and it slid open. "You three chatting without me? That's hurtful." It was a girl, a bit taller than Noel, but that wasn't much of a feat. She had brown hair, that was currently up in a ponytail on top of her head, secured with a red bow. She walked through the compartment door, plopping down in the empty seat next to Fred.

"Nice to see you too, Jessamy." Fred poked the newcomers side gently, grinning.

The brunette inched a bit further away from Fred before continuing. "Shove off, I was here to see Noel the Magnificent." Jessamy Hollingberry had been Noel's best friend for as long as the blonde could remember. Their parents had been friends, so that's how they originally met. They were only a few weeks apart in age, so they were able to go to Hogwarts for the very first time together, both being sorted into Gryffindor.

"Get my letters?" Jessamy asked Noel, gently poking at her leg with her sneaker.

"Of course. Sorry I didn't write as often." Noel frowned at the brunette. "I'm easily distracted by shiny objects. And creampuffs."

Jessamy rolled her eyes, batting away Fred's hand who was creeping up on her again, striking for another poke attack. "Apparently a certain Weasley," She looked over at George, arching an eyebrow at him suspiciously. "Has you incredibly distracted."

Noel shook her head quickly, letting her hair hide her face. Her cheeks were turning a nice shade of pink. Fred noticed this and tilted his head in the blonde's direction for George to take notice. "I was just busy, Jessa." Noel sat up, smiling at her friend. "We'll talk about that later."

"Talk about what later? How gorgeous I am? Because I already know that." Fred smirked, knowing full well it wasn't him they were planning on talking about. He and Jessamy had been trying to get George and Noel together for about a year now, to no avail. George was pretty easy to convince that the pairing would be nearly perfect, Noel however needed convincing. Okay, it was more that Noel was completely oblivious to the whole situation.

From outside of their compartment, a loud smack could be heard. Poor Fred Weasley was going to have a very noticeable bruise on his arm..

"Violence! Help!" Fred's voice could be heard shouting from inside their train compartment.

* * *

><p>It was good to be back at Hogwarts. Noel had too many distractions at home, so it was nice to not have to worry about so many things at once. She was now sitting at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, watching the first years get sorted into their houses. There seemed to be an even amount of first years in all four of the houses, she noticed. Most of them looked absolutely terrified to be there. The blonde smiled, remembering herself in their shoes over five years ago.<p>

It was nice to be back home, sitting at the Gryffindor table. To Noel's left sat George. Fred was sitting on the other side of George. Jessamy sat across the table from the three. To Jessamy's left sat another one of Noel's good friends Evie Walker, her chin rested in her hands as if she were already zoning out before Dumbledore began his 'start of term' speech. Or perhaps Evie was too distracted by the red bow in Jessamy's hair to notice what was going on around her. "How many bows do you have, exactly? A zillion? Because it's starting to scare me." Jessamy just grinned at her. The fact that a sixteen year old girl still wore bows in her hair was frightening enough.

With the last of the first years being sorted, Dumbledore appeared before them again.

"I have two very important announcements, so please, listen carefully." Dumbledore eyed a few students in particular. "First off, I'd like to welcome our newest Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Alastor Moody." He looked back to see where Moody was sitting and found his chair empty. "Well, Professor Moody seems to be missing at the moment. We'll get back to him." Dumbledore didn't seem too bothered that Moody wasn't around. Yet.

"Second of all, there will be a very special event held here at Hogwarts. One that hasn't happened in over 200 years." Dumbledore clapped his hands together before continuing. "Hogwarts will be the proud host of the Triwizard Tournament! Along with the Triwizard Tournament, we will also be the host to the potential champions from both Durmstrang Institute and Beauxbatons Academy. They will be arriving in about a month's time."

The students broke their silence with excited murmurs, some even held conversations before Dumbledore clapped to get them to stop. Noel's eyes lit up and she turned to George who was sitting to her left, nodding at him as if indicating that she wanted to enter the tournament.

"Due to the many dangerous tasks that our three champions will be facing, there will be an age restriction for entering the tournament." Upon hearing the words 'age restriction', Noel's heart fell. Perhaps Dumbledore would make it for the sixteen and seventeen year olds? She could only hope. She honestly didn't expect an eleven year old to take part in this sort of tournament anyways.

"You must be of age, age seventeen in order to participate in the Triwizard Tournament." Dumbledore finished.

"Rubbish!" George and Fred shouted, but their yells were hardly heard over the disappointed cries coming from the majority of students in the Great Hall.

Noel frowned, she was disappointed. But she most certainly wasn't the only disappointed student in the Great Hall upon hearing the age restriction news. The tournament was set to begin sometime after October, perhaps November. And Noel wasn't turning seventeen until March. So her entering the tournament was out of the question.

The blonde looked over at George, who looked equally if not more upset than she did. Fred leaned over to say something to him, to which George replied. But Noel couldn't hear what the twins were talking about.

'_Guess entering this tournament just wasn't meant to be.'_

Add the fact that Dumbledore just announced there would be no quidditch this year, Noel Honeybourne was one unhappy little Gryffindor Keeper. First it's announced that the Triwizard Tournament would be held in her very own school, with two other wizarding schools participating aside from her own. That was a plus. Then it was said that there was an age restriction to participate in the tournament; age seventeen. Noel was sixteen and wouldn't be turning seventeen until the end of March. That was a minus. Then add in the fact that Quidditch would be canceled for the entire school year due to the Triwizard Tournament _she_ wasn't allowed to participate in because she was only four or five months younger than the required age? Noel's first evening back at Hogwarts was beginning to go down hill.

Dumbledore finished his speech about the tournament and the usual bits he said every single year. The beginning of term feast began and as usual, everyone dug in like pigs. Fred and George were sitting next to Noel, whispering something to each other. Noel looked up at Evie and Jessamy in front of her and her eyes went wide. "Oh! Evie! You can enter the tournament!" Noel nearly threw a piece of chicken at her friend in excitement.

The twins stopped and looked across at Evie and frowned. "Well bugger. You just turned seventeen, didn't you?" Fred asked Evie. Evie nodded before answering, "Yeah like a week ago. You guys make it sound as though I turned seventeen MONTHS ago." She rolled her eyes, taking another swig of her pumpkin juice. "And yes, before you ask, I'm going to put my name in the cup for the tournament." She held up her hand as she spoke, as if she knew George was going to ask if she wanted to participate.

George grinned at her reaction. "You know me too well, Evelyn Walker."

The dark haired girl frowned, "You call me Evelyn one more time, I will poke your eyeballs out."

George immediately began stuffing his face with mashed potatoes, particularly fond of his eyes at the moment.

Within a few minutes a door behind the professor's table in the Great Hall slammed open. A sopping wet man stood there, staring at everyone in the hall. Dumbledore turned around in his seat and clapped his hands together. "Ah! Everyone!" The headmaster stood up and walked over to the drenched man and turned to face the Hogwarts students again. "This is your new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Alastor Moody."

Alastor Moody looked like he'd seen better days. Noel shifted in her seat as she looked up at their new DADA professor, who was now seated at the professor's table. It wasn't surprising that his face was full of scars, and he looked harsh, almost unnerving, Moody used to be an Auror for the Ministry. Or so Noel thought. She'd heard her dad talk about him on a few occasions, but she wasn't sure if her dad actually knew Moody or not.

But what creeped Noel out the most about Alastor Moody was his glass eye. When she saw it glance upon the students in the hall, she felt as if the glass eye were looking into her soul. She shuddered and immediately looked down at her almost full plate of food. The blonde sighed, she really shouldn't have taken a second helping of every single little thing in sight.

"Oy. He's really creepy." Jessamy said from across the table.

"Just really creepy?" Evie added, looking up at the new DADA professor. "More like he might give me nightmares."

George rolled his eyes and grinned. "Everything gives you nightmares, Walker."

"Yeah, especially some twit named Fred Weasley." Evie retaliated. Fred's ears perked up at the sound of his name and frowned. "Now I know I'm a very popular subject here. But I'd kindly ask that you not make fun of me."

"Only when he deserves it, of course." George finished.

Noel looked up from her plate to see someone looking at her from the next table over. It was Cedric Diggory. When he spotted her returning gaze, he winked at her and immediately turned back to his friends. The blonde Gryffindor frowned.

George looked over and was about to say something to her when he noticed the look on her face. "Noel?" He whispered.

"Hmm?" Noel looked up, pretending everything was alright.

George arched an eyebrow at her, curious. "You okay?"

Noel sighed, taking another swig of pumpkin juice. "Yeah. Just tired."

'_Liar_.' George thought.

* * *

><p>Later that night Noel sat at the edge of her bed, in her dorm up in Gryffindor Tower. Her socked legs dangled over the edge. Something was bothering her but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Perhaps it was the fact that she caught Cedric Diggory of all people staring at her during the welcoming feast earlier in the evening. Or maybe it was because she wasn't allowed to put her name in for the Triwizard Tournament because she doesn't turn seventeen until bloody freaking March of next year. Or maybe it was George Weasley, who seemed to almost always be on her mind lately..<p>

Whatever it was, was definitely going to keep sleep from meeting up with Noel Honeybourne on her first night back at Hogwarts.

**Author's Note****: Sorry for such a delay with this chapter! My life has been.. rather troublesome lately and quite honestly, I've been a bit depressed. So I took some time off from writing to concentrate on other things. I'm feeling better now, but there's still a long way to go! I'll do my best to update as often as I can. Other than that, thank you to those that have been reviewing each chapter so far, Cheerfully Blue and michness! I appreciate your reviews. :D And who knows, if other people begin to review, you might get a shoutout in the next chapter or so!**


	6. Tea Break

**Disclaimer: Once again, I don't own Harry Potter or anything from the Harry Potter universe. JK Rowling does. But however, I do own Noel Honeybourne and a few random original characters that will be popping up in this and future chapters! Thanks for reading and as always, read and review. It can be encouraging! **

**Becoming an Adult is Difficult!**

**Chapter Six - "Tea Break"**

Noel eventually got to sleep that night after much tossing and turning on her end. She told herself that she needed to get some sleep if she wanted to make it through her first day of classes of her sixth year. Actually Noel just wanted to make sure she woke up on time and not have to have either Evie, Jessamy or Angelina jump on top of her to wake her up. _Again_.

Morning came all too quickly and Noel grumbled as she rolled out of her bed. For once, she was the first one to get up, as the others were still sound asleep in their beds. Noel bent down to her trunk to get out her clothes for the day before heading into the bathroom to go through her morning routine. Shower. Change. Fix hair. Put a little bit of makeup on. Brush teeth. By the time she was finished, the others were getting out of bed to get ready themselves. Angelina was already in the shower. Evie was bouncing off the walls because she was such a morning person. And Jessamy was sitting at the edge of her bed like a groggy zombie, complete with the red bow still in her hair.

Noel bid them all good morning as she plopped down on the edge of her bed and began to put on her shoes. She opted for boots for the day, because her regular shoes were buried somewhere underneath her bed and she didn't feel like going on a journey to find them right now. The blonde waited for the others to get finished and go downstairs.

Jessamy yawned and as soon as she stopped at the bottom of the stairs, she immediately went to put her hair up into a ponytail. This time opting for a pink bow for her hair. Noel reminded herself that she needed to find Jessamy's hair bow collection and flush it down the toilet. By any means necessary.

George Weasley was seated on the sofa as he usually was in the morning. He liked to wait for either Fred or Noel to get downstairs before heading to the Great Hall for breakfast. Or he completely overslept any other day. He looked over his shoulder to see Jessamy putting the pink bow in her hair and shuddered. Too many bows. Evie and Angelina followed after their brunette friend. Then there she was, Noel bobbed down the stairs after her three friends, curly blonde (and purple) hair falling graciously down her shoulders. For it being so early in the morning, she looked gorgeous. He looked down to notice she wasn't wearing her sneakers and inwardly laughed. She must've lost her shoes in her dorm already. But she was still cute.

George stood up when the girls walked closer, and Fred appeared at the bottom of the stairs. "Oy, you lot trying to go to breakfast without me?"

Angelina glared at him, frowning. She wasn't happy with him for not writing to her all summer, so she hasn't spoken to him since they arrived back at school. Jessamy playfully smacked Fred's arm. "Of course we were trying to. Not seeing your ugly mug so early in the morning would've been an achievement!"

Noel rolled her green eyes and looked over at George, smiling. "I don't know about you, but I'm starving." George nodded in agreement and the group was off to Great Hall for breakfast.

* * *

><p>Over the summer, Noel learned that she received six OWLs. Some of the classes she received them in weren't exactly surprising, like <em>Defense Against the Dark Arts<em>, _Charms_ and _Herbology_. Others were slightly surprising, _Transfiguration_. And two were down right fall out of your seat are you sure she really passed, surprising. Like _Potions _and _History of Magic_. History of Magic was definitely a surprise, since Professor Binns was positively dreadful and nearly everyone slept through the class. Noel had fallen asleep a few times, but she actually enjoyed the class. But don't tell anyone else that, of course.

The blonde Gryffindor sat at her house table, anxiously looking over her class schedule. Her first day back didn't seem too terrible, double Herbology in the morning, a break for lunch and double Potions in the afternoon. She wasn't Professor Snape's biggest fan, but she found his classes to be interesting so she decided to keep along with them. Not to mention with Herbology in the morning, that also meant she had a Weasley twin and Jessamy filled morning. Noel thankfully had Jessamy and Evie in Potions with her in the afternoon, since the twins completely gave up on that class ages ago.

The time for the first Herbology lesson of the year arrived, and Noel and the others arrived in their assigned greenhouse, waiting for Professor Sprout to arrive. Noel never had a big problem with herbology, even if it could get a bit boring at times. The days when Fred and George actually paid attention were the most entertaining. Last year, they attempted to send a flesh eating tree branch after Cedric Diggory, but it turned and went after Angelina instead. The blonde shook her head, remembering the incident. Angelina hadn't quite forgiven the twins for that one yet and it's been over a year.

_Cedric Diggory_.

Noel looked around the greenhouse and sure enough, there he was. Cedric Diggory was a few feet away from her, not paying any attention. She quickly looked away and wandered over to the usual table she shared with the twins and Jessamy. She instinctively stood next to George and across the table stood Jessamy and Fred.

Jessamy and Fred were fighting over something, Noel wasn't particularly paying any attention to what it was. Instead she was just staring down at her feet. '_Why did I wear boots today? Why were they so dirty? Since when did I stand like a penguin?_' Random thoughts jumbled through her head.

George looked down at Noel, who was staring at her feet. He arched an eyebrow in a mix of confusion and amusement. He gently poked his petite blonde friend with his elbow to get her attention. "Oy, since when were your boots incredibly fascinating?" The Weasley asked her.

'_Oy, since when were your boots incredibly fascinating?_' Noel looked up at George, smiling a bit. "Since never? Sorry, my mind is elsewhere." He nodded at her before continuing, "Wanna talk about it?"

Noel shook her head, "It's fine. I think just maybe I'm over-thinking everything right now." She looked over in Cedric's direction to find that he was looking at her again, with a big grin on his face. She couldn't help but return the smile. It was only polite, wasn't it?

Noticing her gaze go off in another direction, George turned his head to see what the blonde was looking at.

_Cedric freaking Hufflepuff Diggory._

George shook his head, sending a glare in Cedric's direction, which the Hufflepuff definitely caught. Cedric raised his eyebrows at the Weasley twin, as if he were indicating that the war was on.

Thankfully, Noel didn't catch any of this, Jessamy had begun distracting her with a chapter in their Herbology textbook, _Flesh-Eating Trees of the World_. "Look, this tree just ate this lady as she was walking home from work one day! Just BAM, devoured her like she was a delicious chicken nugget." Jessamy shuddered as she pointed out a section of the book to Noel.

George sighed. So far, the beginning of his sixth year at Hogwarts was turning out to be a stressful one.

* * *

><p>A few weeks had gone by when Dumbledore announced that the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students would be arriving within a few days and then those who were able to, could put their names in to participate in the Triwizard Tournament.<p>

Not that Noel could participate in it or anything. If only she had been born a few months earlier she could.

She sighed as she sat on the couch in the Gryffindor common room. It was late at night, sometime after eleven since most of the Gryffindor students had long since gone to bed. Noel sat by herself, legs propped up on the table in front of the couch, her sixth year DADA book propped open on her lap. A cup of tea sat on the table, and every once in awhile, Noel would reach forward and take a sip out of the cup. Tea was tea, even if it was getting a bit cold.

There was a creak behind her that nearly sent Noel to toss her book at whoever was trying to sneak up on her. Instead, the book, _The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection_, fell to the floor with a loud thud.

"Merlin, Honeybourne! You scared the shit out of me!"

It was George.

Phew.

Noel shook her head, putting a hand to her chest to indicate that George also scared the shit out of _her_. "I scared _you_, Weasley? Excuse me but I need to go change my pants." She rolled her eyes, couldn't help but grin at her best friend, who sat down on the couch next to her.

George laughed, fairly certain that the blonde didn't need to change her pants. "So that's what stinks."

"Shut it." Noel retaliated. "What are you doing up?" She asked him as she plopped back down on the velvety couch.

"Eh, Fred's snoring again. Sounds like a dump truck just blasted through our room. Multiple times." The redhead shook his head. Fred had the worst snoring issues in the world. If he weren't his twin, George would probably toss Fred out the window to make him stop snoring. "But what are _you_ doing up, missy?"

Having had enough, Noel closed _The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection_ and held it up for George to see. "If you've forgotten, which you totally have, we have an exam in DADA tomorrow. And I don't know about you but, Moody scares the absolute living daylights out of me. So I'd like to pass this exam." She turned to George, pretending to act serious. "Because he'd probably kill us with his glass eye. Or something equally as terrifying."

George bit his bottom lip to keep himself from laughing. Noel was absolutely adorable when she was cranky. And tired. Add the two together and well, George started laughing.

"What in the name of Merlin is so funny?" The blonde frowned, crossing his arms in front of his chest in frustration.

Except George couldn't answer. He was too busy laughing that he didn't see Noel's attack coming. She threw the book down on the floor and pretty much jumped on top of George, sitting down on his stomach.

Thankfully they were the only two people in the common room at that very moment, otherwise that would've looked incredibly awkward and compromising.

"George Weasley! What is so funny?" Noel sat on George's stomach, poking at his chest as she spoke each word. For emphasis.

If he hadn't known any better, George would've said that a faint blush crept onto his cheeks. But he was too busy laughing his behind off to believe that it was Noel that was causing it. Or maybe it was. "Well, Honeybourne, you are what's so funny." He stopped laughing long enough to place his hands on Noel's waist, not sure if he wanted to start a tickle battle or just lift her off of him. He thought to himself for a moment and just let his hands rest right where they were.

Either Noel didn't notice the placement of George's hands, or she didn't care. George didn't know, so he decided to keep his hands where they were, until Noel told him otherwise. "How am I funny, Weasley?"

"First of all, you're using me as your own personal sofa." Not that George minded, of course. With that, Noel slid off of George, allowing him to sit up again. She sat down next to him, hands placed gently on her lap. "Second of all, you were pretty much falling asleep while studying. For the Creeper's class."

Their small band of friends had been referring to Professor Moody as a creeper, due to his glass eye seemingly watching them wherever they went. There was something about Professor Moody that absolutely terrified Noel, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. It didn't help that his lessons were completely mad, she was still upset about the day he showed them the three Unforgivable Curses.

"Don't know how that's very funny.." Noel said.

George smiled, turning to look at his blonde friend. "It's only funny because it's you."

For a second, George could've sworn that Noel was blushing but he wasn't so sure. She turned and smiled at him, and George could tell that she was definitely blushing.

There was a moment or two of silence between both Gryffindors before Noel looked back at George. His brown eyes met her green ones as the two of them inched closer together. Their faces were mere inches apart from each other when a voice shouted from the stairwell.

"Fred Weasley! Next time you sabotage me with a canary cream I will destroy you!" It was Jessamy, chasing a cackling Fred Weasley down the stairs. Fred was much too quick for her, and Jessamy was too distracted by spitting yellow feathers out of her mouth.

Noel and George nearly jumped and immediately backed away from one another on the sofa. Both teenagers were flushed with embarrassment.

Once reaching the common room, Jessamy and Fred stopped to look at the scene before them. The two of them looked at each other, Jessamy, who had temporarily forgotten what Fred had done, jabbed at his side with her elbow. Fred arched an eyebrow at her, then turned to grin at his twin and Noel.

George ran a hand through his hair in frustration as Noel immediately shot up and picked up her books and notebooks. "Well, it's really late. I should be heading to bed!" And with that, she smiled lightly at George before brushing past Fred and Jessamy, running up the stairs to the girl's dorms.

Fred plucked the last remaining yellow feather out of Jessamy's hair before looking at his brother. "And what exactly did we just interrupt?"

Sighing, George let his hand fall at his side before replying. "Exactly what you think. Everything was going fine until an ogre and a canary came barreling down the stairs to keep it from happening." Jessamy pouted at George, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Ah, you mean a _devilishly handsome _ogre, dear Georgie." Fred spoke up, nodding at Jessamy and grinning.

"Lies. A devilishly stupid ogre, is more like it. Sorry, Georgie." The brunette said, looking genuinely sorry.

Let's just hope that whatever had happened, if he had kissed Noel or not, that Noel wasn't going to hate his guts in the morning because of it.

Also, George had a sudden dislike for canaries..

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Phew, thankfully this chapter didn't take as long as I thought it would to get up this week! I'm going to try and update this story about once a week, depending on my workload at the park. And a bit of good news, I have the outline started for the sequel to this story, which will be hopefully put up whenever this one is finished. How has everyone liked this story so far? And how is everyone liking Jessamy? I'm having a bit of fun writing her, and have honestly thought of putting her together with Fred at some point. Possibly.<strong>

**Anyways, thank you for reading and please review! Thanks to the wonderful Cheerfully Blue, michness and Joyous Red Gummy Bear who reviewed chapter 5!**


	7. Versus

**Disclaimer: As usual, I own nothing in the Harry Potter universe but JK Rowling does! Thus, I am not her. But however I do own Noel Honeybourne and a bunch of random original characters that pop up in this chapter and future chapters! Thanks for reading and as always, after you've read, please review! It's always nice to see that the people who subscribe to this story [which is a ton, thank you!] actually review it! Merry Friday! Hopefully everyone enjoys their weekend!**

**Becoming an Adult is Difficult!**

**Chapter Seven – "Versus"**

Noel Honeybourne ran as quickly as she could up the stairs that led to her dorm at Hogwarts. With numerous books and other supplies bunched up in her arms, it took all she had to not trip and drop everything that she was carrying. The blonde was certain that no one had followed her up the stairs, so maybe she was off the hook.

Once she reached the door to her dorm, she opened it as if not to wake the sleeping occupants of the room at the moment. Angelina was curled up in her bed, books strewn all over the place. Looks like she had the same idea that Noel had earlier. Evie was also asleep, except her school mess was nowhere to be seen. Noel looked over and saw Evie's books strewn all over the floor next to her bed. Typical. It was only a few months into the new school year and their room looked like a book hurricane or Hermione Granger had attacked it.

Thinking she was safe, Noel tiptoed to her bed, gently placed her books down on top of her trunk and climbed into bed. She didn't even bother changing. What was the point? She'd just be getting up in a few hours to head to her first class of the day. What was her first class again? Noel had to think about it. So much happened a few minutes earlier that her mind was clearly distracted.

Oh that's right, she had double transfiguration in the morning. Goodie. A morning chock full of George Weasley. Not that she minded, of course. But they almost.. kissed. Noel felt her face burning up so she drew the curtains around her four poster bed shut and rested her head on her pillow.

That was when she heard the door open and someone entered. Noel froze, knowing full well that it had to be Jessamy coming to bed. Jessamy was the last one to come back to their room, so it couldn't be anyone else. The blonde girl just hoped that her friend would go straight to bed and leave her be.

But nope. Jessamy had other plans.

Jessamy poked her head through the curtains of Noel's bed and grinned. "See, I knew you wouldn't be asleep." She whispered. "Mind if I come in?"

Noel cracked open an eye and nodded at her friend. "How did you know I wasn't asleep? And fine, I have no choice do I?" Jessamy shook her head and crawled through the curtain and plopped herself down on the end of Noel's bed, sitting indian-style.

"First off, you snore. Secondly, you got up here two minutes before I did. You don't fall asleep that quickly, ma'am." Jessamy flashed her best friend a grin before placing her chin in her hands. "Now. Spill your guts, Honeybourne."

Sighing, Noel sat up in bed. She rubbed the back of her neck anxiously and adjusted her shirt a bit since it was bothering her. "Spill what?"

A slight kick was sent Noel's way, but luckily it wasn't too hard.

"Fine, fine. What do you think happened?" Noel strategically placed a pillow between herself and Jessamy. Just in case.

"Did you two, you know, kiss?" Jessamy asked, looking excited.

Noel shook her head, indicating no. "Almost. But a canary and his twin brother sort of interrupted it." Her green eyes locked onto Jessamy's dark brown ones.

"Again, I'm sorry. But stupid disgusting Fred shoved a canary cream down my throat telling me it was a delicious candy and then I sprouted yellow feathers!" Jessamy flailed her arms a bit and was immediately calmed down by Noel, who put a finger to her lips indicating that Jessamy was a bit too loud. After all, there were three other people in the same dorm room trying to sleep. The brunette nodded accordingly and continued. "Sorry."

"Honestly, you get so worked up over Fred." Noel shook her head, couldn't help but smile. "But maybe if you hadn't come down molting your feathers all over the place.. maybe George and I would've kissed." A wide smile spread across Noel's face.

Jessamy clasped her hands together and sat up straight. "Oh Merlin, has Noel Adelaide Honeybourne figured it out?"

The blonde sitting across from her arched an eyebrow curiously, frowning. "Figured what out? That you have a crush on Fred Weasley?"

_Figured what out? That you have a crush on Fred Weasley? _Jessamy coughed, shaking her hands in the air in defense. "Nah. Never. But no! I mean George likes YOU, missy."

_George Weasley? Wait a minute! George Weasley can't like me! He's my best friend! Aside from Jessamy, of course. But he just can't! He's always there for me. Was there for me when I got that concussion playing Quidditch last year. Let's me stay at his house over summer holidays and sometimes for Christmas. His mum loves me.. _

_Oh crap. He likes me._

"Earth to Noel!" Jessamy waved a hand in front of Noel's face, attempting to catch her attention. "Please don't tell me you had to actually think about if he really did like you or not." When Noel didn't answer right away, Jessamy spoke up again. "You had to seriously think about that, didn't you?"

The blonde nodded, indicating that she had to. Jessamy shook her head. "Seriously? He's absolutely mad about you. How long have you known him? Almost six years? Who was always there to defend you when someone picked on you when we were younger? Aside from me, of course. George. Who stayed by your side nearly the entire time you were stuck in the hospital wing because you ended up slipping on black ice and nearly broke your precious little head off? George."

Jessamy went on for a few more minutes about how Noel couldn't have seen this sooner. Noel had to admit, she should've noticed it sooner. But she didn't. She had so much going on at home with her own family, and constantly studying here at school, she's surprised she hadn't noticed it sooner. "I guess you're right. But what do I do?"

"What do you do? You know what you need to do? March right over to his dorm, kick down that door and make out with his face. Right this instant!" Jessamy pumped her fist in the air in triumph.

The shorter of the two girls shook her head and laughed. "Okay, not exactly _that_. Not really sure Fred and Lee would appreciate if I morphed into the Incredible Hulk, turned green and smashed the living daylights out of their door. But the looks on their faces would be priceless."

"Remind me to do that at some point before we graduate. But seriously. You two need to kiss. Get together. Get married. Have thousands of adorable ginger babies and live happily ever after!

The pillow then smacked Jessamy in the face. "First of all, yes, I like him. Second of all, no marriage and no babies right now. How about I try and pass potions first and survive the rest of my classes? Or is that not allowed?"

"No. It's not." Jessamy was smacked in the face with the pillow again.

The two best friends giggled for another hour or so before they both fell asleep.

* * *

><p>George Weasley was worried the next morning. He was worried that what happened last night between him and Noel would change how she saw him. Or what didn't happen between the two of them? The redhead frowned as he trudged down the stairwell into the Gryffindor common room the very next morning. Noel was nowhere to be found, but instead he found Jessamy sitting on the sofa waiting for him.<p>

"First off, she's not upset with you. Second, she already went to breakfast. She tried to gnaw on my hand this morning so I told her to go on before us." The brunette informed him. Seemed like a logical explanation to things. There was one time where Noel bit his shoulder because they spent hours in the library looking something up and she was too hungry.

"I don't even want to know what you two talked about." George sighed as Jessamy stood up and the two of them began their trek to the Great Hall for breakfast. "Probably something involving muggle romance novels again."

Jessamy nearly had to sprint to keep up with George as they walked down the hallway, her robes billowing out behind her. "Actually, no. But it involved her turning green and breaking down your door."

George snorted at the brunette's response. "Wouldn't be surprised if one of you did that. You, especially. Tiny half-Japanese girl morphs into giant green man and destroys Gryffindor tower. More at eleven." The redhead imitated a muggle reporter he had seen on television years ago. It was one of the many perks of his father being obsessed with everything involving muggles, he got to watch television just once. And it was the news.

The two of them laughed as they turned the corner into the Great Hall. They made their way to the Gryffindor table and nearly stopped in their tracks suddenly.

Cedric Diggory was sitting next to Noel at the Gryffindor table. They looked to both be in high spirits as they seemed to be laughing about something. And the Hufflepuff was sitting awfully close to Noel.

Jessamy's brown eyes widened as she looked up at George. It looked like his head was about to explode in anger and she quickly latched onto his arm. "George! I hate Diggory too but for the love of Merlin don't kill him!"

The redhead had his hands clenched at his sides and looked down at Jessamy before responding. "And why shouldn't I?"

"Because if you did," Jessamy said. "Nearly every girl in this school would kill _you_. Especially since nearly every girl in this school is a member of the 'I'm hopelessly in love with Cedric Diggory'-club!"

_Ugh. Jessamy was right. _But George couldn't just stand there and watch Cedric try to steal away the girl that he's not-so-secretly been in love with for the last two years of his life. He looked down at Jessamy, to which she let go of his arm and he began to walk towards Noel and Cedric.

"Pardon me, my spot." George said, sitting down right in-between Noel and Cedric. He pretended to ignore the annoyed look coming from Cedric and began to pile food onto his plate. Noel turned to face him and swiftly smacked his arm out of annoyance. "What are you doing?"

"Me?" George asked innocently, holding a piece of toast in his hand. "Why I'm starving m'lady and wish to replenish myself before I fall over and die." Cedric was about to speak up when Fred sauntered over to the table, sitting himself in-between George and Cedric. "Splendid day, my fellow Gryffindors!" He said, not knowing exactly why Cedric was sitting next to him. "Hufflepuffs sit over there, Diggory." Fred said and pointed to the next table over. "You might want to join them."

Cedric scoweled at the Weasley twins before standing up and walking over to Noel. "We'll continue our conversation lady, Noel." He smiled sweetly at her before looked back at the twins and glaring at them. He eventually joined back up with his 'fellow Hufflepuffs' and spent the rest of breakfast shooting death glares in George's direction.

Soon after, Noel grabbed George's arm and led him outside of the Great Hall. She needed to have a few choice words with him.

"George Weasley!" Noel didn't sound too happy. "Why did you do that?"

"Do what?" He asked. "I just sat down and ate breakfast!"

"Oh you know exactly what I mean! You just shut Cedric out like that!"

"No. _He_ was sitting in _my _spot and I was hungry!"

Noel sighed and placed a hand on her forehead in frustration. "You know, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were jealous." She said.

George's brown eyes looked down at her. She was avoiding him. She was avoiding what happened the previous night. Or what didn't happen the previous night. "Maybe I am jealous."

She looked up at him, still frowning. "Just go about this the right way."

The redhead looked confused. What did she mean by, _just go about this the right way_? That could mean numerous things. "What do you mean by that?"

Noel continued to frown, "Please George. Just think about it. Okay?" She placed a hand on his arm and cracked a small smile.

Just then, Fred burst through the doors of the Great Hall and grabbed Noel's hand. "M'lady, we're going to be late for transfiguration if you dawdle around! Bye, Georgie!" He shouted to his twin as he drug Noel down the hallway. The blonde quickly turned around to give George a wave before disappearing around the corner.

George stood there for a moment or two and sighed. At least Noel didn't seem angry with him. That was a relief. He turned around to head back to the dorm since he had a free period but was stopped by a yellow blur in front of him.

"Weasley." It was Cedric Diggory. _Again_.

"Diggory." He nodded in acknowledgement. "What can I do for you?"

Cedric grinned before speaking. "I'm just going to cut to the chase. You like Noel. I like Noel. I plan on doing what I can to impress her. And that means, entering the Triwizard Tournament." He grinned. "But it looks like I'm seventeen and you're not. Too bad." Cedric boasted. "We'll just see what happens. If I get picked, she'll have no choice but to be impressed and fall at my feet."

George's hands were clenched at his sides again and as he was about to raise up a fist and have it meet Cedric's eyeball, Jessamy came out of nowhere and grabbed his arm. "Shove off, Pluffyhuffle!" And she took off in the opposite direction with George in tow. "I get it, you want to sock him in the face. I do, too. But we have to give you the upper hand here. You need to win Noel's heart." The brunette nodded enthusiastically.

Eyebrows raised in curiosity, George stopped to listen to what Jessamy had to say. "And how exactly do you expect me to do this?"

"Well, first of all.." Jessamy said, leading George down the hallway and into the library as they spoke about their grand master plan. How George Weasley was going to win Noel Honeybourne's heart.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Gah, sorry for the jumbled chapter! Most of it came out of nowhere and turned into a giant pile of yuck. The depression has been<strong>**bothering me more and more lately, so I'm trying to not let it affect my writing. I know how a bunch of you guys enjoy reading this and I'd like to keep it less depressing. I promise the next chapter will be better! It'll include both the unveiling of the Champions and the First Task! So please look forward to it! And also, thanks to my usual reviewers for reviewing the last chapter! It means a lot to me so if you would like to continue please do so! Thank you so much for reading!**


	8. Chase the Chance

**Disclaimer: As usual, I own nothing in the Harry Potter world but JK Rowling does! Thus, I am not her. However I do own Noel Honeybourne and a couple random original characters that will pop up every once in a while. Thanks for reading and as always, please review after you've read this chapter! It'll mean so much if you do. :) A big thanks to current reviewers and those that have been putting this story on alert. Thank you guys, so much! Happy President's Day Weekend! **

**Becoming an Adult is Difficult!**

**Chapter Eight – "Chase the Chance"**

The day had finally come for those who wished to participate in the Triwizard Tournament to place their names into the goblet of fire. Well, those that wished to participate that were _**of age**_. Naturally the majority of those who wished to participate were fifteen, sixteen, not too far off from seventeen. Noel being one of them. But she wasn't going to pull some stupid stunt just to get her name in the goblet. She knew it wasn't worth it.

Students filled the Great Hall to watch those putting their names in the goblet. Most were sitting at the tables that had been pushed against the walls so there would be plenty of room in the center of the Hall. Beauxbatons students fluttered in and out while placing their names in the goblet. Durmstrang boys sauntered into the Hall to put their names in the goblet, most didn't stick around. Afterall, they would be drawing the names later that evening to see which three would be named Champions of the respective school.

Naturally, Fred and George pulled some sort of hilarious stunt while trying to get their names into the goblet. An aging potion. Hermione rolled her eyes at the twins taunting them with a "It's not going to work." But they chose to ignore her.

And ignore her they shouldn't have. The twins took the aging potion and after a minute or two, they sprouted identical white beards. They gawked at each other in bewilderment, not able to put their names into the goblet and ran out of the Great Hall. No doubt to figure out some sort of way to get themselves out of yet another mess.

* * *

><p>Noel was sprawled out on one of the plush sofas in the Gryffindor Common Room when the twins burst in, white beards and all.<p>

"You dolt, this was supposed to work!" George shouted at Fred.

"Dolt? I'm still handsome, if you couldn't tell." Fred smirked, tugging on the hem of his shirt as he spoke.

Noel stayed in her position on the couch, she was pretty sure that the twins hadn't noticed her lying there yet. She was small enough to stay hidden until the twins walked past the sofa, which they hadn't done yet.

"Oh, but a certain _someone_ hasn't noticed your handsomeness yet, dear Freddie."

"Hush. Just you wait!"

Wait, what? Noel thought about it for a moment. Weren't Fred and Angelina dating? Or at least she thought they were. She remembered that they were having problems over the summer because Angelina complained that Fred had been ignoring her. But who was this new girl Fred had his eye on? The twins could have pretty much any girl they wanted, especially Fred. He was a bit more outgoing than George, so he practically had all of the girls fawning over him. Not to say that George didn't, they just seemed to veer more towards Fred for some odd reason.

Noel popped her head above the back of the sofa and grinned at the sight before her. Two elderly Weasley twins blinked brown eyes at her, surprised to see her bright green eyes before them.

"Merlin, Honeybourne!" George said, his hand placed over his heart.

"You scared the shit out of us!" Fred finished his twin's sentence, his hand also placed over his heart.

Noel laughed, sitting up now. "Oh, yeah. I think I need a change of underwear.." Fred grumbled before continuing. "I'll just leave you two alone. And hey, Georgie? You're too old for her now." Fred waved a hand before disappearing up the steps towards the boys dormitory.

The spell must've worn off by now because by the time George flopped down on the sofa next to Noel, the white beard was slowly disappearing.

"That's a good look for you, you know?" Noel chuckled, closing the notebook she had placed on her lap. "Let me guess, you and Fred were trying to put your names in the goblet and it didn't work? Resulting in the beards?" The blonde asked the redhead.

George laughed, tossing one of the sofa pillows at Noel, which she caught in her hands. "Actually we were trying to hit it off with the ladies. Since obviously the ones we have our eyes on are a bit distracted.." George's voice trailed off.

Noel turned her head, looking at George curiously. What did he mean by that? "Distracted? Oh come on, there are plenty of girls at Hogwarts that would just fall at your feet if you asked them to." She smiled, as if she just realized that _**she**_ was one of those girls. "All you'd have to do is ask her, it can't be that hard."

The beard on George's face had completely disappeared by now, so there was nothing to hide the faint blush that crept up onto his cheeks. "Not that easy. There's someone else who is interested in the girl I like. In the girl I've liked since we were thirteen.."

The blonde girl thought about it for a moment. Who was it that George liked? Was it Jessamy? Her best friend had known the twins for as long as she had, so that was always a possibility. But then again, George wanted to murder Jessamy half the time. Particularly because of the overabundance of hairbows and her sometimes obnoxious attitude. Was it Evie Walker who seemed to be living in a constant day dream? Noel shook her head, secretly wishing the girl George fancied turned out to be herself.

"If you fancy her so much, do your best to win her over. You say there's someone else who has their eye on her, don't let him beat you to the punch." Noel nodded at George.

He shook his head, frowning. "I've got this terrible feeling that he already has."

Noel sighed, regretting what she was about to say. "If you think he already has, you need to just ask her. Find out the truth." But she didn't want George to ask, because she knew it wasn't _**her**_ that he was talking about. And if it happened to be another girl, and he asked her, then Noel's heart would shatter into thousands of pieces. She'd have no choice but to cut off all ties to George and run far, far away.

She mentally smacked herself because none of that would happen. At least not the running away part. That was just the cowardly way out.

"You want me to ask her?" George turned, his brown eyes boring into Noel's wide green ones. The petite blonde girl sitting next to him nodded in response. "So you want me to ask her right now—"

But George was interrupted. There was a rush flooding into the Common Room. Turns out, the Four Champions for the Triwizard Tournament had just been named. Yes, _**four**_. There were typically three, one from each school. But from what was being said, Hogwarts had two champions.

Fred whizzed down the stairs and came to a halt at the sofa where Noel and George were sitting. "What's going on?"

George sighed, inwardly cursing at himself. He had absolutely horrible timing. He was just seconds away from asking Noel if she had any feelings for him, any feelings that resulted in more than being just friends. But the bloody Triwizard Tournament had to go and ruin everything for him! Again!

According to a very grumpy looking Ron who had just walked into the Common Room, there were four champions for the tournament instead of three. A girl named Fleur Delacour was picked as the Beauxbatons champion. She was blonde, gorgeous and had a heavy French accent. The Bulgarian Seeker, Viktor Krum was picked as the Durmstrang champion, so at least Ron seemed thrilled about that.

"And who is the Hogwarts champion?" Noel asked, her head cocked to one side. George nodded at her question, also wanting to know the answer.

"Diggory." Ron said, still looking grumpy. What the heck got him in such a tizzy?

George grumbled something under his breath and Noel looked at him. She was confused. Suddenly George hated hearing Cedric's name and Ron was angry that his precious Krum was the Durmstrang champion?

But Ron spoke up, "And Harry."

_And Harry._

Wait. What?

Harry was only fourteen! How in the world did he manage that? Noel shook her head as Fred shouted, "Merlin's beard he's underage! I need to learn his secrets!"

George was shaking his head and Ron sat down on the sofa on the other side of Noel. "You're mad that Harry somehow got picked?" The blonde girl asked.

All Ron could do was nod in return. Noel frowned and gently patted Ron's shoulder. "I'm sure it's some sort of joke."

Almost immediately after hearing the word _joke_ both Fred and George let their arms rise in the air. "We had absolutely nothing to do with this." For once in their lives, they were innocent. And probably for the last time in their lives.

Noel turned, smiling at the twins. "Obviously. If anything, you two were trying to get yourselves into this tournament, not Harry." The twins nodded simultaneously as their petite best friend spoke. Ron gave the three of them a half smile but continued to sit there and mope.

They sat there for a few minutes, listening to what was going on around them. Some were talking anxiously about what had happened with Harry's name being drawn out of the goblet. Others were too busy fretting over an upcoming exam. It was only when Harry walked through the portrait hole when things got eerily quiet.

Harry didn't even bother talking to anyone as he walked through the Common Room. Not even when Hermione tried, he just kept walking towards the stairs and up towards the boys dormitory.

Not long after Harry disappeared up the stairs, Jessamy and her red hair bow came barreling down the stairs and skidded to a halt right in front of the four sitting on the sofa. Noel was sandwiched between a mopey Ron and gloomy looking George, and Fred was on the other side of George.

"Noel! This was on your bed!" The brunette handed her blonde friend a small cluster of flowers and a note. She held the unopened note in her hand and her eyes widened at the flowers sitting on her lap. Freesia. Not many people knew her favorite flower, just a small handful. They were in a mix of reds and yellows. "Who left these?" She asked Jessamy who just shrugged her shoulders in response, "No idea, they were sitting on your bed when I went into our room."

Blonde curls covered Noel's face as she looked down and began to open the note. Jessamy looked up and looked over towards Fred and George. George winked at the brunette and gently prodded at Noel's shoulder, "Come on, what's the note say?"

She looked down at the note and silently read what it said.

_If it's love, then say it's love._

_Without the façade, let's just be honest._

_If it's love, then say it's love._

_From inside our chest let's be earnest about it._

_Because you're more important than anyone else._

_Despite the cold shoulder I won't regret._

_Because you're more important than anyone else._

_This feeling I wanted to convey. _

Looking back up, Noel saw four pairs of eyes staring at her. "Come on, what'd it say?" Jessamy asked, reaching forward and shaking Noel's shoulders. Fred and George were grinning from ear to ear, and Ron snatched the note out of her hands. "Meet me in the Owlery, a week from tonight at 10pm?"

"Secret admirer, eh? Wonder who it could be. Pity the fellow, though." Fred said.

Jessamy reached forward and smacked Fred upside the head, "Shove off. It's cute!" The brunette turned back to George and grinned. George grinned back. "Wonder who it is." He said.

"No idea." Noel whispered.

Whoever it was, she'd find out in a week's time.

**Author's Note: I am so sorry for the delay in posting this chapter! Things in my life have been hectic lately. I was recently in a small car accident, and didn't suffer from injuries right away. But don't worry, myself and the driver of the car I was in are alright. The other guy was just stupid and didn't see a stop sign. I do promise to update a bit more, seeing how things are beginning to get interesting. Anyone have an idea of who sent Noel the flowers and note? It should be a bit obvious. And once again, thank you to those who have been reading so far and to those that have been reviewing! It means a lot to me! So please review this chapter as well!**

**And a random fact, the part of the note that Noel read to herself is actually a verse from a song by AKB48, it's called "Aitakatta" or "I Wanted to Meet You". So I don't take claim to coming up with that. Unfortunately I'm not that creative!**


	9. A Chance Arrives!

**Disclaimer: As usual, I own nothing in the Harry Potter universe, the lovely JK Rowling does! I do however, own Noel Honeybourne and a few random original characters that will be popping up every once in a while! So please, thank you for reading this brand new chapter and don't forget to review! I know I haven't updated in months [thanks, work!] but I'm back and would love to hear from you guys! Enjoy Chapter 9 of 'Becoming an Adult is Difficult'!**

**Becoming an Adult is Difficult!**

**Chapter Nine - "A Chance Arrives!"**

That long week came and went for Noel Honeybourne, she spent most of that time spacing out and completely ignoring everything that was going on around her. Which was typical for the blonde girl, but now it was just more prominent, and this time everyone noticed it. Jessamy was enjoying this unfold in front of her own eyes. She of course knew who the 'secret admirer' was, and if it couldn't be guessed by now, it was none other than George Weasley. And Jessamy was determined to finally get these two together. Once and for all. If she had to lock the two of them up in a room together, the brunette would do it. During classes, it was obvious Noel was trying to pay attention to the lesson, but in reality she was completely lost in her own thoughts. There were a few times when Professor McGonagall caught her off-guard, causing Jessamy to snicker and Noel to blush furiously. Jessamy just thought to herself, she couldn't wait for tonight to be over with, just so she could finally see George Weasley get his girl.

Once classes were done for the day, Jessamy walked into the room in Gryffindor Tower that she shared with not only Noel, but three other girls, and plopped down on her four poster bed. The brunette had stacks of homework to do before the weekend was over, but tonight she was going to ignore all of it. And probably ignore it until Sunday evening when she'd realize just how much she was slacking and had to catch up on everything. That's when she'd ask Noel for help, if her blonde friend wasn't distracted, of course. No one else was back in the room yet, which gave Jessamy enough time to figure things out. That evening, she would be helping George Weasley win over the girl of his dreams, and her best friend, Noel Honeybourne. If all worked according to plan, George would finally get the girl, Noel would stop being such a space cadet and Jessamy would have a whole new slew of hair bows to add to her collection. George promised to find her some if she helped him out with this. And who could turn out a bunch of new hair bows? Not Jessamy Hollingberry.

Eventually Jessamy got settled in and decided to take a nap. A nap was more important than starting her homework, she told herself. So she climbed into her bed and drew the velvet curtains around her. Just as she closed her eyes and finally felt herself drifting off to sleep, the door to their room burst open and immediately slammed shut. Noel's sniffling was easily heard through Jessamy's bed curtains so the brunette sat up and was about to draw them open when Noel beat her to the punch. Noel's blonde head popped between the curtains and she parted her lips and asked if they could talk.

"Of course." Jessamy said, very thankful that she hadn't fallen to sleep just yet.

Noel climbed into Jessamy's bed and drew the curtains back around them. No one else was back in their room yet, so they could freely talk without anyone listening in on their conversation. "Why so sad, Honeybourne?" The brunette asked before waiting what seemed like forever for her friend's reply.

"Nothing just.. I'm nervous. About tonight." Jessamy pretended to act dumb when in fact she knew exactly what Noel was talking about. "You know, supposedly I meet this secret admirer of mine tonight. And I'm supposed to fall in love with him and live happily ever after. Or something of that sort." Noel shook her head, blonde curls waving as she did so. Jessamy nodded and spoke up. "Well, you never know what'll happen. Who knows, you've probably known the bloke for years now and may not even realize just how much you like him." The brunette shrugged her shoulders, pulling her knees up against her chest when Noel began to speak once more.

"Maybe you're right but in all honesty, there's someone I really like and if this doesn't turn out to be him, I don't know what to do." Noel whispered as if someone had just walked into their room when in reality no one had. Jessamy tilted her head curiously and just as she was about to open her mouth, Noel sat upright and shook her head. "It doesn't matter. What happens happens, right?" The blonde didn't even wait for an answer from her friend before she opened the bed curtains and slid off the bed. "Thanks, Jessa." Noel nodded and closed the curtains once more. "Have a good nap." She said before walking into their shared bathroom and closing the door behind her.

_What in the bloody universe just happened?_ Jessamy thought.

* * *

><p>Noel spent the rest of her day being a nervous wreck, though she wasn't sure why. She somehow made it through dinner but thought it odd that Fred and George were nowhere to be found. It wouldn't be so strange if those two weren't human garbage disposals, they literally ate whatever food was in their path. And it didn't matter who the food belonged to, once George nearly inhaled her tomato and cheese sandwich when she turned away for a split second. Now she knew to keep an eye on her plate whenever the twins were around, other people needed to eat, too. Jessamy kept grinning at the blonde like an absolute idiot all throughout dinner and kept asking her if she was ready for that night to be over.<p>

Not exactly, she was ready to find out who this secret admirer was. Because if she didn't find out soon enough she was going to psych herself out and talk herself out of going to the Owlery that night at ten.

Once dinner was done, Jessamy grabbed Noel's hand and led her back to Gryffindor Tower. "Come on, you can't go looking like a frump now can you?" The brunette smiled and shut their dormitory door behind them. Noel wasn't calling this a date, but she didn't want to get all dressed up for this. Especially not knowing who the mysterious admirer was. Jessamy had other plans and made the blonde try on multiple outfits, seemingly not happy with any of the choices. Noel finally settled on what she thought to be an appropriate outfit. Jeans, since it was getting much colder at night now. The wrap sweater her mother had given her just last Christmas, in her favorite color, purple. And her favorite pair of calf high brown leather boots where the belt wrapped around the boot before clasping together at the top. Not to mention the jacket she almost forgot to throw on before leaving their dormitory for the Owlery just before ten o'clock. If Jessamy hadn't tossed it at her, Noel would've forgotten it all together. And tonight was not the night to forget a jacket, it was getting much colder out at night and Noel didn't feel like freezing to death.

_It's now or never, Honeybourne. Don't back down now._

* * *

><p>George Weasley didn't head down to dinner that Friday night. Not that he was nervous or anything, he was too busy planning with Fred what he needed to do to finally win Noel's heart. Jessamy couldn't go because she didn't want Noel to get suspicious, so she kept the blonde busy at dinner while Fred helped his brother. They hadn't thought of anything special. George never liked a girl as much as he did Noel, of course he liked plenty of girls before but not this way. Honestly, George thought to himself that he could spend the rest of his life with this one girl and be as happy as can be. But before that could happen he had to work up the courage to tell his friend that he liked her. As more than a friend.<p>

Fred was mainly there for moral support for his twin, and to oh, tell him that girls love flowers. Only problem was it was late fall and there weren't many flowers around. "Nothing a little magic can't help you with, dear brother." Fred winked at George and conjured up a bunch of Freesia, similar to the bunch he'd come up with before but now they were just entirely red. No whites, no other colors. Just red. "Red is romantic, so there you go." Fred patted George on the shoulder and sat down next to his brother on his bed. "Nervous?" The older twin asked.

Of course George was nervous. He was about to tell the girl he's had feelings for for years now that he wanted to be more than friends. There was a good possibility that she was going to reject him, and worst of all, probably tell him that she didn't even want to be his friend anymore because of it. So many things could go wrong with this scenario, and George was absolutely terrified. Maybe he should wear an extra pair of pants, just in case.

Fred noticed his twin's silence and patted his shoulder once again. "It'll be fine. You've heard Jessamy, she's convinced Noel has feelings for you. And if you don't want Diggory getting his filthy Hufflepuff paws on your girl, you need to act now." The older twin took his hand off George's shoulder and shook his fist at nothing in particular. "You can't let Diggory win, you know. You've known Noel longer." Not that knowing her longer had any reason for her to be George's, Fred was just stating the obvious.

Perhaps Fred was right. They had known Noel for so long now that the younger twin was surprised he hadn't come to this conclusion sooner. "You're right. Besides, she's mad if she doesn't fall for this charming and devilishly handsome Weasley." George winked at his twin and Fred smacked his shoulder instead of patting it. "Correction, the less handsome twin would be you, but tonight I'll let you have it." "Thanks, Fred." Honestly, George didn't know what he would do without his twin brother in his life. George hoped he would never have to find that one out.

* * *

><p>The night air was chilly, there wasn't a cloud left in the sky when Noel reached the Owlery just shy of ten o'clock. She was clearly all by herself so she stood and stared out of one of the open windows and waited. The stars were out thanks to the cloudless sky, but it was also thanks to the cloudless sky that it felt so cold that evening. If it hadn't been so cold, Noel would be over thinking everything and would've hightailed it out of the Owlery at this point. But she told herself to wait, she needed to see who this secret admirer was. Propping her elbow up onto the stone sill, the blonde let her chin rest against the palm of her hand. Jessamy had something to do with this, she didn't act as interested in this as she normally would've. Maybe her friend knew who this secret admirer was, and perhaps just maybe, she was helping them with this whole thing.<p>

And what if her secret admirer was Cedric Diggory?

She wouldn't be able to handle it if it was Cedric. Noel always liked him as a friend, but deep down her heart belonged to someone else. Even if she hadn't admitted to it before that evening. There were just too many girls at Hogwarts that would maul and toss gum in her hair if she ended up dating Cedric. Noel shook her head, that's not what she wanted. What Noel Honeybourne really wanted was…

A noise caught her attention and she turned around from the window, clearly hearing footsteps against the stone stairwell. It was now or never, somebody was coming and whoever it was could probably hear just how loud her heart was pounding against her chest. Just what she needed, to scare away this person and she didn't even know who it was yet! Her breath caught in her throat when George Weasley appeared in the open entryway to the Owlery. It wasn't Cedric Diggory. It was George Weasley. No. Wait. She was just getting her hopes up. It was after ten o'clock by the looks of her watch, maybe George had just appeared to see if everything was okay. Maybe he felt bad because whoever this secret admirer was hadn't shown up yet and he wanted to swoop in and save the day. Or maybe he really was her secret admirer. Noel was rambling in her head and went to open her mouth when George spoke up.

"Noel. Before you say anything, please, just let me speak." George said as he walked closer to the petite blonde. Noel was still a bit clueless, what was going on here? Her heart continued to thunder in her chest when George got close enough to take her hands in his and he continued to speak. Noel nodded her head and let George continue.

"Ever since we first met, I knew something was there. How we met at Flourish and Blotts and how you were too short to reach that book you wanted. How we were both sorted into Gryffindor later that month. How you constantly put up with our antics, more like you're such a good sport especially when Fred accidentally lit your hair on fire. But you've always been there for me, and I love spending time with you. And when you ran away during the World Cup, I didn't know what to do if something happened to you." George paused to take a deep breath before he continued. "I don't want to lose you. And while it's taken me a long time to come to this conclusion but Noel Adelaide Honeybourne," George paused and squeezed her hands with his own before continuing, "I'm the one who sent you those flowers, that letter. I'm your secret admirer. And if you would do me the honor of saying yes and becoming my girlfriend?" George whispered the last part, terrified that the girl before him was about to reject him.

George Weasley was her secret admirer? Noel's breath was still caught in her throat as the words began pouring out of the redhead's mouth. Was he really saying all of this? Or was the blonde just imagining everything? But once he stopped talking, he looked defeated, as if she was going to slap him across the face and tell him how big of an idiot he was. "George?" She whispered before pulling him closer to him. "I thought you'd never ask." The grin on George's face appeared and he leaned forward to press his lips against Noel's. Their first kiss. In the moonlight on a cool, crisp autumn night. And it couldn't be any better.

**Author's Note: I'm so sorry for not updating this in months! I promise to be more attentive and update this more often. But work was hectic to the point where I was working 130 hours every two weeks and I literally did nothing but work, eat and sleep for four months straight. Things at work have calmed down a bit so I'm available to start writing again. Hopefully you faithful readers have stuck around and will continue to read this story and encourage me to continue you! You guys are amazing!**


	10. If You're Okay with Someone Like Me

**Disclaimer: As usual, I don't own anything in the Harry Potter universe, JK Rowling does! I do, however own Noel Honeybourne and a few random original characters that pop up in these chapters. Thanks to those that reviewed, followed and tagged this story as one of their favorites! I'm still trying to update this more often, even though work isn't too crazy right now. And as usual, if you like this story please review! I always appreciate them! **

**Becoming an Adult is Difficult! **

**Chapter Ten - "If You're Okay with Someone Like Me"**

These last few weeks had seemed like a blur to Noel Honeybourne. Never in her wildest dreams would she have thought that her secret admirer would be George Weasley. In all honesty she thought it was someone playing a really mean prank on her. But deep down she was relieved and couldn't be happier. Her friends and classmates noticed the difference in the petite blonde since she had made it official with George. Noel was more attentive in classes, very chipper during meals and was all around just happy with everything.

Typically Noel woke up not wanting to face yet another day of classes, but she knew it'd be worth it because George would make it better. At least, the classes she had together with him. Of her six current classes, Noel only had one class with just George. Her other classes were with either just Fred, or both of the twins, or without them. There was absolutely no way either of the Weasley twins would be caught in an advanced course of History of Magic, they always made fun of Noel for it. The same with Potions, though that surprised Noel a bit since you'd think they'd need the class to further their skills, and the fact that they were thinking of running a mail order shop full of their little inventions.

Thankfully, in the two classes she didn't have with the twins, Noel had a few other friends. In History of Magic, Noel had June King in her class. June King was in Ravenclaw, which was rightfully so since she was the brains of the group. Noel met her a few years before they started attending Hogwarts through their parents. June had the tendency to keep to herself which was why she didn't typically get along with most of Noel's friends, especially the twins. So one day when History of Magic was over, June spoke up.

Noel had been gathering her things, while she enjoyed history, this double whammy of History of Magic was eventually going to be the end of the blonde girl. Tucking her books and notebooks under her arm, Noel stood up only to be stopped by June, who was standing right in her way. "So, you and George, huh?" The dark haired girl questioned. All Noel could do was smile and nod, it wasn't exactly a secret that George had finally asked Noel to be his girlfriend just a few weeks ago. "Yeah. Why?" Noel brushed past June, but her raven haired friend followed her out of the classroom.

"Oh, no reason. Just surprised, is all." June said as the pair began walking down the hall. It was Wednesday, and thankfully that double dose of History of Magic was the last for Noel that day. No more classes until Thursday morning when she had double Herbology, with George of course. "Honestly, I'm surprised that either of the twins even decided to get a girlfriend." June added before Noel had a chance to reply before.

That stopped Noel right in her tracks. With her hands holding her books tightly, she shook her head so furiously that her blonde curls bobbed in front of her face. "What do you mean by that?" She asked, barely giving June enough time to reply. "You've never approved of me being friends with them."

June shook her head, "You're right, I've never approved of you being friends with them. What I meant was, I'm surprised that George actually picked you. He could have any girl he wants in this school, it's just why did he pick you?" June asked, and Noel immediately felt like she was just stabbed in the back. With a very large, pointy knife. This was surprising, she had been friends with June for years now and she never felt like this around her. So why now? "Ouch. Thanks, pal." Emphasize on the word pal. Noel shook her head furiously and immediately turned on her heels. "If that's what you want to think, so be it. I can't change your mind. And honestly, I don't really think I want to."

June didn't bother to chase after her friend, instead she decided to shout down the hallway. "Don't come running back to me when he decides to date some other girl! Because you know it's going to happen!"

Noel huffed down the remainder of that hall and turned the corner. Thankfully, June hadn't followed her so the blonde took a moment to regain herself. She had no idea where the outburst from June came from, nor did she really care at the moment. Running a hand through her hair, she sighed and began walking again. What June said wasn't true, was it? Sure, both Fred and George could have any girl in the school, but they've all been friends for years. George wouldn't do that to Noel. Would he?

When Noel finally reached the portrait to Gryffindor Tower, she had to think for a few seconds to remember what the password was. "Something wrong, my dear?" The Fat Lady asked Noel. "Eh. It's nothing." What was that blasted password again? "Banana Fritters." Noel said finally and the Fat Lady smiled down at her. "Chin up, my dear." The portrait swung open and Noel stepped inside. The Gryffindor Common Room was fairly quiet. Most students were just getting out of their classes at this time, so this gave Noel the opportunity to run up to her room without being spotted. She needed to blow off some steam from her verbal fight with June. Making her way up the stairs, she reached the room she shared with Jessamy, Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet and Evie Walker. Only Angelina was around, and she was sound asleep in her bed. Typical nap time for Angelina.

Placing her school things onto her bed, Noel grabbed another outfit and padded quietly into the bathroom to take a shower. It was the one place where she could be alone, where no one would bother her. She just needed to be by herself, what after that fight she just had with June about George. The last thing the blonde wanted was George finding out, Noel didn't want to mess things up so soon.

There was no way that June was right. She was probably just trying to get under Noel's skin and it was clearly working. Sighing, Noel decided to just give it a rest. Unless she was given a reason to, Noel wasn't going to worry about it. After finishing up in the shower, Noel changed into more comfortable clothes, jeans, long sleeved shirt and a hooded sweatshirt. It was starting to stay cold out, so when she wasn't in her school uniform, Noel liked being bundled up in sweatshirts and sweaters to keep herself warm. The blonde wasn't really a fan of the colder months, but being from England, it was just something she had to get used to. It only reminded herself that once she graduated from Hogwarts, she wanted to take a vacation. To someplace warm, and far away from England.

That evening at dinner, Noel continued to be as cheerful as possible, trying her best to leave the fight she had with June far back in her mind. Almost as soon as George sat down next to her, placing his arm around her shoulders and lightly kissing her forehead, Noel forgot about it instantly. She and June weren't always the greatest of friends, so the fight didn't seem to bother her as much as she originally thought it would.

Everyone chatted away during dinner, discussion topics included the first task in the Tri-Wizard Tournament, which was quickly approaching on Tuesday evening. From Jessamy nearly lighting Fred's hair on fire earlier and to Lee Jordan's frilly pink socks. "I do not own frilly pink socks!" Lee protested as Noel nearly choked on her pumpkin juice. "Seriously! If one of us here were to own frilly pink socks, it would be Noel!"

"Hey! Leave me out of this!" Noel held a hand to her chest as she continued to laugh.

"Yeah. If my girlfriend owned frilly pink socks, I'm not sure how this whole thing would work out." George mocked, pretending to be highly offended by the non-existent frilly pink socks. "She already owns an abundance of pink clothing. It's about all I can handle!"

Noel rolled her eyes and set her glass of pumpkin juice back down on the table. The rest of their meal consisted of everyone making fun of one another with the occasional banter about the upcoming first task in the tournament. Noel was looking forward to going, but at the same time felt nervous about everything. Who was she going to support? Harry Potter or Cedric Diggory? The petite girl had been friends with Harry since his first year at Hogwarts. And while they weren't the best of friends, she still enjoyed talking with him. And then there was Cedric. If she supported him, she didn't want to upset George because that was definitely a touchy subject with her boyfriend. Not that she blamed him, of course. But since it became school-wide knowledge that George Weasley had finally asked Noel Honeybourne out, Cedric Diggory had been awfully quiet.

"Oy, come on guys!" Lee shouted when someone threw a piece of bread at him, causing Noel to come crashing back to reality. She smiled at her friends that surrounded her, leaning in closer to George. Everything was going to work in her favor, perhaps something in her life was going to go her way for once.

* * *

><p>The next five days came and went, though most of it was a complete blur to Noel. She had been so focused on her studies that when she felt a cold coming on, she didn't do anything to help stop it. All she had to do was get through three exams and she'd be able to give it a rest. But her body had other plans. On Tuesday morning, November 24th, Noel could barely get out of her bed. It was nice a toasty warm in the room she shared with the other Gryffindor girls, but her body felt so cold.<p>

Classes were canceled that day due to the first task in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Which was good because no student would be focused on their schoolwork, anyways. Jessamy wandered out of the bathroom and stopped at the foot of Noel's bed. "What's this? A human burrito?" The brunette laughed as she began poking at the lump of blankets that were piled on top of Noel. "Go away." Noel mumbled and buried her face underneath one of her pillows.

"Nah, don't want to. Besides, it's nearly time to go out to the pitch and watch Diggory get destroyed!" Jessamy laughed and plopped down on the edge of her friend's bed.

Noel groaned and poked her head out from underneath her pillow. Jessamy scrunched up her eyebrows in concern and gently placed the back of her hand against her friend's forehead. "Yikes, you're burning up. Do you need me to take you to see Madame Pomfrey? Or better yet, do I need to go get George up here and take you to see Pomfrey?" If anything could get Noel out of bed, it would be George. Or at least the mere mention of George.

"Please, no. This isn't the way George needs to see me." Noel scrambled to sit up, but knew instantly it was a bad idea. The blonde sighed and turned her head towards Jessamy. "Give me a few minutes. You guys go along ahead of me. I still need to clean up." Of course Noel had absolutely no plan on going with everyone to see the first task. Not with the way she was currently feeling.

This answer seemed to suffice with Jessamy and the brunette stood up and nodded. "Yes, ma'am! And don't forget to bundle up, it's pretty chilly outside right now." Jessamy said as she grabbed her hat, scarf and gloves off of her desk and bounded out of the room.

Now Noel was completely alone, which was good. Time to catch up on the very little sleep she got the night before, thanks to this awful cold.

* * *

><p>Everyone had made it to the pitch when Jessamy caught up with George. George was of course sitting next to Fred, wearing matching knit hats to keep the cold away. "Where's Noel? You two are usually attached at the hip." George asked the brunette as she sat down at his other side.<p>

"Hush, you. You two are always attached at the lips. And besides, she told me she'd be right down. Don't get your panties in a wad." Jessamy crossed her arms over her chest in an attempt to stay warm. George took Jessamy's word for it and continued to sit there, waiting for the First Task to finally begin.

Dumbledore eventually stepped forward and began explaining the rules for the first task and George couldn't help but grin. Anything involving dragons fascinated him, seeing how his older brother Charlie worked with dragons in Romania. He heard through the grapevine that Charlie was here working with the dragons, so he was looking forward to seeing his brother after all the champions completed the task. Each champion had to fight a dragon in order to retrieve a golden egg, that Dumbledore has just stated holds a clue that ties into the Second Task in the tournament.

First up was Cedric and George rolled his eyes. He shouldn't feel this way towards Cedric, now that Noel was his, but he just couldn't help it. Besides, Cedric has been spotted with Cho Chang lately so that made George feel a little bit better. Though he didn't expect to be all buddy-buddy with Cedric any time soon, the redhead felt that he could at least tolerate to be in the same room as the Hufflepuff. Cedric's dragon opponent was a Swedish Short-Snout. It was easy for George to identify dragons because Charlie was always reading about them while they were all growing up, and he'd constantly show his younger siblings and beam proudly when he could recite information about them. Turning his attention back to Cedric, it was clear that the Hufflepuff was using a transfiguration spell to distract the dragon. Cedric transformed a nearby rock into a dog, which the dragon found more interesting than Cedric. George smirked when the dragon eventually took notice to Cedric again and sent out a breath of fire, burning the Hufflepuff's face. However, Cedric was successful and retrieved his golden egg.

As Fleur Delacour stepped up after Cedric was finished, George looked around him once more. Noel was nowhere to be seen. He craned his next back to see if perhaps she was sitting in the seats behind them, but she wasn't. Maybe Noel got caught up in something, but it wasn't completely out of the ordinary for her to be late. He decided to give it a few more minutes and if she hadn't turned up then, he'd go inside and look for her.

Fleur's dragon was a Common Welsh Green, which is native of Wales. George remembered Charlie telling him that Welsh Green's typically strayed away from human contact all together, and tended to go after sheep more than anything. Fleur had a different approach to her dragon by enchanting it to sleep. The enchantment worked, but when she got too close to her golden egg, the dragon snorted in his sleep, resulting in part of her outfit getting burned. Thankfully she was able to extinguish the flames and she too, retrieved her golden egg.

By the time Viktor Krum stepped out of the champion's tent, George was starting to get worried about Noel. She was often late for things, but never this late. And she was looking forward to seeing the First Task, and to cheering Harry on. "I'll be right back." George said to Fred before squeezing through everyone who had been sitting around them and making his way back to the castle. "Don't get lost! Don't leave me alone with Hollingberry for too long!" Fred shouted after his twin before he walked away. George could hear Jessamy shout something at Fred and couldn't help but smile.

* * *

><p>"Banana fritters." George said slightly out of breath as he walked through the portrait hole and into Gryffindor Common Room. There were quite a few places his girlfriend could be, so he decided to check the common room first, and then her room. Absolutely no one was in the common room, which made sense since everyone else was out watching the first task. So he sprinted up the stairs and came to a stop right outside of Noel's door. He paused for a moment and sighed, opening the door. If she wasn't in here, he'd have to check the library next, then perhaps the Owlery.<p>

But the faint snoring sounds he heard next made him shake his head. The lump underneath the mountain of blankets on Noel's bed made it obvious that his girlfriend had fallen asleep. Normally he would've let her be, but he felt like they hadn't seen much of each other recently because of all the tests and homework they had to do. Well, all the tests and homework that Noel was doing, George hating doing schoolwork, on time.

George sat down on the edge of Noel's bed and gently let the palm of his hand rest against her cheek. It was only then that he realized that she was burning up and he frowned. She wasn't feeling well, and he was the absolute worst boyfriend on the planet for not being there for her. "Noel. Hey, wake up. Sweetheart." George gently shook her shoulder, hoping that if he could get her up, he could at least get her to drink something.

It took Noel a few minutes to realize that the voice she was hearing wasn't in her dreams, and that George was really there. "'Ello, George." Noel replied groggily and tucked her arms back underneath the mountain of blankets, it was awfully chilly in her room. "How long have you been sick?" George asked, letting his hand go back to her face, his thumb gently caressing her cheek.

The blonde closed her eyes again, but didn't fall back to sleep. "Since yesterday. I didn't want to worry you." Noel whispered, opening her eyes once again. George smiled and bent down, lightly kissing the blonde's forehead. "Well, looks like you've got such a handsome, amazing, talented boyfriend to take care of you."

But Noel shook her head and whispered, "But the task. You wanted to see Harry destroy Cedric. And see if Ron would overthrow the leader of Krum's fan club." George laughed and also shook his head. "Yes, but you're more important. Now, I'm getting you water, can you try to sit up?" The redhead asked and Noel nodded her head slowly. "Give me about five years."

George went to get Noel a glass of water and when he made it back to her room, he was honestly surprised to see her sitting up against the headboard of her bed. "You don't have to take care of me, you know." Noel took a sip of water from the glass after George sat back down on her bed, this time making himself more comfortable. Both of his legs were tucked underneath him and he let one of his hands rest atop of Noel's knees.

"No, but I want to. Besides, if I were sick, you'd do the same thing for me." George could picture it, she'd baby him and the redhead would be perfectly fine with it. "True, but in all the years I've known you, George Weasley, you rarely get sick. I always get sick!" The blonde pouted and George grinned. "Then that'll give me plenty of ways to take care of you." Noel felt her cheeks turning a nice shade of red and she lightly smacked her boyfriend's arm. "Not that way! I mean, not while you're sick." George held up his hands in protest, and partially to protect himself.

Maybe everything June told her was just her friend being jealous. George wouldn't act this way with just any other girl. Perhaps June was just trying to get a rise of out her, and while it had worked, now Noel had completely forgotten about the whole thing. George was a wonderful boyfriend, as he was seeing her in one of her worst moments. "You're wonderful, you know that?" Noel whispered, setting her now empty water glass down on her nightstand. "Only because you mean everything to me." George leaned forward and placed his lips against Noel's forehead. She was still running with a fever, but hopefully that would change after he continued to take care of her.

"Get some rest. I'm going to sneak into the kitchen and get you something to eat. And I'll play Madame Pomfrey a visit and with the magical touch of yours truly, you'll be feeling better in no time!" George smiled and slid off of his girlfriend's bed, putting his shoes back on. As George walked out of the room, turning to smile and wink at Noel before disappearing down the stairs, Noel couldn't believe just how lucky she really was. And yet she was so afraid that she would end up losing George, or even if June ended up being right. But for now, she was just so happy to have such a caring person, such as George, in her life. "Better be careful Weasley, or I'll end up falling in love with you." Noel whispered to herself as she felt herself drifting back to sleep.

**Author's Note: I've returned! And with the longest chapter yet! This took me a few days to write, as I've been getting busy with the Halloween season at work. I'm spending a few days this week in NYC so hopefully I can write once more when I come back. And as always, thanks to everyone who continues to read, review and favorite my lovely little story here! **


	11. City Girl's Pure Heart

**Disclaimer: As usual, I don't own Harry Potter or anything in the Harry Potter universe! JK Rowling does. But however, I do own Noel Honeybourne and a few random original characters that pop up in these chapters. Thank you to those of you who have been reviewing my little story here! I plan on wrapping this one up soon and have already begun brainstorming on the next one, which I'll hopefully have up soon! Thank you for reading, and as usual, please review!**

**Becoming an Adult is Difficult! **

**Chapter Eleven - "City Girl's Pure Heart"**

Eventually, Noel was able to get over that nasty cold from the week of the First Task. Mainly with the help from George, who almost nearly never left her side, except whenever Jessamy kicked him out of the room so the brunette was able to take care of her best friend. Thankfully that's all it ever was, just a nasty cold. They always seemed to creep up on Noel right before Christmas, so the blonde really shouldn't be surprised. All of the stress from projects and tests were what helped the cold come on. Now she was feeling much better, and with most of her tests done and over with, she was able to enjoy some free time with George.

It was lunch time, and for once in her life, Noel got to the Great Hall before George did. Jessamy and Evie bounded into the Great Hall shortly after Noel did, and they sat down next to their blonde friend. "You're looking a trillion times better, kiddo." Jessamy spoke as she began piling food onto the plate set out in front of her. Evie had begun doing the same, but she was too preoccupied with the food before her to speak, so instead she nodded along with what Jessamy had just said.

"Kiddo?" Noel asked, blinked up from her plate of potatoes and chicken. "Who exactly are you calling kiddo?" The blonde may look like a first year, but she always hated when everyone pointed it out to her. And 'kiddo' was definitely not one of her favorite nicknames. Little One, Kiddo and Hey how's the weather down there, are some of her least favorite nicknames.

Jessamy looked up from her plate of food and shook her head. "I'd prefer if you don't murder me. But, you do look loads better." The brunette nodded before shoving a fork load of chicken into her mouth. Evie chimed in and smiled. "Yeah. Your nose isn't red anymore and you don't look like a zombie. Zombie Noel wasn't very pleasant. I was afraid you were going to eat my brains in the middle of the night."

Noel laughed and set her glass of pumpkin juice down on the table. "I do feel better. So you don't have to worry about me eating your brains. June on the other hand.." Noel whispered the last part as her eyes wandered over to the Ravenclaw table. Evie and Jessamy turned in the direction their blonde friend was looking in and quickly looked away. June was sitting at the Ravenclaw table and with her gaze in the direction of the Gryffindors, shaking her head in disgust.

"What the hell is her problem?" Jessamy frowned, setting her fork down on the table. "More like, who farted in her cereal this morning?" Jessamy turned back to the Ravenclaw table and saw that June was no longer looking at them, but whispering to the people who were sitting around her. "She's been acting strange this year, wonder what's up." Evie whispered, almost afraid that if she spoke loud enough, June would somehow be able to hit them.

"Don't know. And I don't particularly care." Noel said, but deep down knew this was beginning to bother her. First she had that run in with June during History of Magic a few weeks ago, and now this. The blonde knew that June didn't have the greatest home life, but that wouldn't have anything to do with it. Maybe. She sighed and took another sip of pumpkin juice from her goblet. When she looked back at the Ravenclaw table again, June and two of her Ravenclaw friends had stood up and were walking out of the Great Hall. _Good, go away._ Noel thought to herself as her 'friend' walked out of the Hall and presumably off to hate Noel in the deep dark Ravenclaw Common Room.

"Now that Psychopants has left the building, did you guys hear about the Yule Ball coming up on Christmas?" Jessamy asked, looking at Evie and Noel excitedly.

"Yule Ball?" Noel asked and Jessamy immediately jumped back in. "McGonagall mentioned it earlier today. It's for fourth years and above, and it'll take place on Christmas." Evie shook her head and corrected Jessamy. "Christmas Eve, but anyways. You should see all of the boys. Freaking out about dates and everything." The raven haired girl giggled and went back to eating her lunch.

Speaking of boys, George and Fred hadn't popped up to lunch yet, which made Noel wonder. "A ball sounds like fun, but I'm still not sure I'm even going home for Christmas yet or not."

"Don't tell me you girls are talking about the Yule Ball too?" A voice from across the table of the three Gryffindor girls made them jump. Fred and George had sat down during their conversation. "Naturally." Noel smiled at George and stuck her tongue out at Fred, who was the one who spoke up earlier.

Noel really wanted to go to the ball, but there was a chance that she'd actually be going back home for Christmas this year. She was still waiting for the letter from home to arrive. "What's with girls and dressing up all fancy and dances?" Fred asked but Jessamy tossed a piece of chicken at the redhead. "You're just jealous you can't wear a dress!"

George laughed and waved a hand in the air. "Trust me, you wouldn't want to see that in a dress. You'll have nightmares for weeks." Fred frowned and pretended to be insulted. "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear you say that, dear Georgie." George grinned and began shoving forkfuls of food into his mouth. His eyes wandered to Noel and he smiled at her. Noel smiled back and had to hide the blush that was creeping up onto her cheeks behind her hair. The streaks in her hair from before were now gone, her hair was completely blonde this time. George assumed that it was because she was going home for Christmas soon, and he knew her mother didn't approve of it.

Speaking of which, George was absolutely terrified to meet Noel's family. He didn't really know that much about them. Except that Noel had an older brother, Bryce who graduated from Hogwarts when George's older brother Bill did. The redhead really didn't know much about Bryce, since he only went to Hogwarts for one year before he graduated. Noel didn't talk all that much about him, except she recently told him that Bryce was getting married sometime next year. Noel's father, Alton Honeybourne worked in the Ministry, in the Department of Magical Games and Sports. And as far as George knew, Noel's mother, Lynette no longer worked but stayed at home. Noel's family wasn't her favorite topic of choice, so George never pushed it on her.

By the time lunch was over, the post had come in and a letter fell into Noel's lap. The blonde blinked and picked it up. The return address was from her home, so she knew this would probably be a letter from her mother, her father never wrote to her. It just wasn't his thing. George and Fred had been whispering to each other from across the table when Noel began to open the envelope. "What's it say?" Jessamy poked Noel's arm as her blonde friend began reading the letter.

Noel's green eyes scanned the letter and frowned. She should've seen this coming but let her get her hopes up. She shook her head and stood up from the Gryffindor table. "Nothing, it just seems like I'm not going home for Christmas this year." Noel slung her bag over her shoulder and tried to smile. "I'll see you guys later, don't want to be late for DADA." And with that Noel was walking out of the Great Hall, leaving her four friends behind, completely confused.

"Wait, DADA?! Does this mean we're already late?" Fred asked, shoveling even more food down his throat.

"Calm down, chubby. That girl's always early for classes. You've got a good five minutes to enlarge that food baby you've got going on." Jessamy laughed, leaning forward across the table and patted Fred's stomach. "Hands off, Hollingberry!" Fred shouted, causing George to hop up onto his feet. This was one fight he didn't want to be involved in. "We better escape before we're caught in the line of fire." George looked at Evie and they bother grabbed their things and began to walk out of the Great Hall.

"Don't you dare, Fred Weasley!" Jessamy's shouts could be heard from outside of the Great Hall. Evie and George couldn't have been happier to get out of there when they did.

* * *

><p>Needless to say, no one was late for Defense Against the Dark Arts that day. Not even Fred, who showed up right on time, though his hair was smoking. Noel shook her head and reminded herself to ask Jessamy what she did to Fred later.<p>

Defense Against the Dark Arts that day was boring, they were working on their papers on the Three Unforgivable Curses in absolute silence when a small piece of parchment appeared in front of Noel on her desk. The blonde blinked curiously and looked in front of her to see George sitting in front of her, smiling at her. Her hand covered the small piece of parchment as she looked up to see Moody up at his desk, half asleep. Cautiously, Noel opened the note and began reading it in her head.

_What do I have to do to cheer you up?_

Noel blinked at the note again and looked back at George. George was now facing forward, pretending to work on his paper. There was no way George was actually doing any real work. The blonde took one last look at Moody to see he was still asleep in front of the classroom and quickly scribbled back a reply to George on the same piece of parchment.

_What makes you think I need cheering up?_

As if he could read her mind, George kept facing forward but had his hand open up behind his back to receive Noel's reply. She quickly slipped it into his hand and went back to her paper.

A few moments later, the piece of parchment was back onto her desk, and Moody still wasn't paying any attention to them, thankfully. Noel opened it up and read it once again in her head.

_I just hate seeing you so sad. And it's because you can't go home for Christmas, right? But this means that you get to spend Christmas with your amazing, gorgeous and talented boyfriend._

Noel cracked a smile and George grinned from the desk in front of her. In his mind just seeing her smile was enough to make him happy, but he wasn't done yet. His girlfriend hung her head and began scribbling her reply before she handed the parchment back to the redhead.

_Amazing, gorgeous and talented is right. I'm just so lucky that I get to sit behind you in this class. _

George snorted in laughter softly, which caused Moody to bolt upright at his desk. Most everyone in the class turned in the direction of George, but soon enough turned back to their own papers. It wasn't until George began writing his reply back to Noel when Moody's voice scared the entire classroom. "Weasley! Honeybourne! What are you two doing back there?"

If they weren't looking back at them before, everyone had their eyes on George Weasley and Noel Honeybourne. Fred even turned around, his desk was right in front of George's. Jessamy looked over at Noel, as her desk was next to hers.

Noel wasn't sure what to say, but before she was about to open her mouth and explain, George got up on his feet. "Oh, this is all my fault, professor." The redhead spoke, causing Moody to stand up and walk up in front of his desk. "Oh? Care to explain, Mr. Weasley?" Moody asked, tapping his cane lightly on the floor as he waited for George's explanation.

George shifted nervously on his feet, and Noel had absolutely no idea what was going on. Moody stood up at the front of the classroom, slowly growing impatient with George's silence. "I just wanted to ask a question." The redhead spoke up, causing Moody to urge George on. "Go on, Mr. Weasley."

George shook his head and frowned, he really didn't like when someone called him Mr. Weasley, he always thought of his dad whenever someone called him that. "I wanted to ask Noel Honeybourne if she would go to the Yule Ball with me."

Now everyone's eyes were on Noel, including Moody and his creepy fake eye. She could feel her cheeks burning up and she wanted to desperately hide her face behind her hands in embarrassment. "Well?" Moody craned his neck so Noel would be able to see him looking her.

The blonde smiled and nodded at George. "I'd love to go with you, George."

The class cheered, Jessamy was in her seat grinning like an idiot, and Fred even wolf whistled from his desk. It wasn't the way George wanted to ask Noel to the Yule Ball, but it would have to do. After all, George had plenty of things he needed to plan, things he needed to be perfect so he could easily make it up to Noel in the future.

"Wonderful. Now. Sit down boy and stay quiet for the rest of the class." Moody barked and George immediately sat down. Normally he'd do something to get himself into trouble, but Moody gave him the creeps so he decided to do as he was told.

Noel was still blushing, she looked to Jessamy in the seat next to her as her brunette friend gave her the thumbs up. Though Noel couldn't help but smile, she was still so embarrassed. It wasn't George's fault, they shouldn't have been passing notes in class, let alone Moody's class. She was no longer sad that she wasn't going home for Christmas, because she was going to the Yule Ball as George Weasley's date.

* * *

><p>Christmas Eve finally arrived, and Noel was nervous. She had never been to a ball before, and she wasn't one for dressing up in fancy clothing. But this was a once in a lifetime thing, so the blonde decided to make the best of it.<p>

The sixth year Gryffindor girls were getting ready in their room, Angelina was getting ready in the bathroom because she wasn't happy that Fred hadn't asked her to the ball. Noel was just putting the finishing touch on Evie's curls when Jessamy spun around in her dress. All three girls decided to wear short dresses, despite it being the end of December. They figured it would be fine since they'd be moving with all the dances they would be doing. Jessamy chose a red strapless, sweetheart neckline dress. The skirt of the dress was made out of tulle, and the brunette couldn't stop twirling around in it.

Evie's dress was similar in that her dress was short, and the bottom was completely out of tulle, but hers was a dark shade of blue and had rhinestones everywhere. Once Evie's hair was finished, Jessamy grabbed a purple dress off a hanger and handed it to Noel. "You better get dressed. Your hair took way too long to get done." The blonde nodded, letting her bone straight hair fall into her eyes as she took hold of the hanger. She wasn't sure where to change, Angelina was still in the bathroom and she didn't want to bother the other girl. So Noel decided to change on her bed, with the curtains drawn closed. It didn't take long for her to shimmy into her short purple dress. Once Noel reemerged from behind her bed curtains, the three girls just stopped to look at one another.

They were silent for only a minute or two before Jessamy spoke up. "Well, we're hot." And then they broke out into loud laughter.

* * *

><p>Fred and George Weasley were waiting for their dates in the Gryffindor Common Room. They were wearing dress robes that thankfully hadn't been handed down to them like they were to their younger brother, Ron. "I cannot believe you asked Jessamy to the ball." George told Fred, still shocked that his twin hadn't asked Angelina instead. "She's still mad at me, George. I tried talking to her but she wasn't listening."<p>

That was strange, but at least Fred asked Jessamy. What surprised him even more was Jessamy actually said yes. "You like her, don't you?" George nudged his twin with his elbow.

Fred looked at George before replying, "Angelina? What planet have you been living on? Of bloody course!"

George's eyebrows raised in suspicion and he shook his head, "No. Hollingberry. You. Like. Her." He spoke, poking Fred with his finger for emphasis.

"What?! Are you out of your mind?!" Fred shouted, causing a few lingering people in the common room to look their way. Fred continued in a whisper, "Not like that, are you insane? Angelina would murder me with a -" But Fred wasn't able to finish his sentence. Evie and Jessamy were walking down the stairs, and once Fred's eyes saw Jessamy, he forgot what he was going to say.

George caught wind of this and grinned. "Point, George Weasley." George made a tally mark in the air with his finger, indicating that he won that round and waved hello to Jessamy and Evie. "You two look beautiful."

The girls smiled and George could've sworn he saw Jessamy's cheeks turn a soft shade of red. "And you two, absolutely handsome of course." Jessamy teased. Evie smiled and waved to the three of them before she mentioned she had to meet her date by the Great Hall. The raven haired girl was asked to the ball by a sixth year from Hufflepuff.

"Don't you three dare leave without me." Noel could be heard from the top of the stairs. She was taking her time down them, since she wasn't entirely used to wearing heels. Knowing her luck, Noel would fall flat on her face or break a leg. George felt his breath catch in his throat when his girlfriend appeared at the bottom of the stairs. Her dress was purple, though he wasn't sure what material it was, it had this pretty lace detailing and bow sash wrapped around her small waist. "I feel like I'm going to break my face in these things." The blonde frowned as she made her way over to George, Fred and Jessamy.

But no one spoke. Noel looked up at George and wondered if something was wrong with her dress. Or did her hair already begin to curl again? Wait, was there a booger hanging from her nose?

Noel's thoughts were cut off when George leaned forward, pressing his lips lightly against hers. They stood that way for a few seconds, before Fred cleared his throat. George pulled away slowly and smiled. "You look beautiful." The blonde blushed and linked her arm within George's. "That is the magical wonder of makeup and hairdresser Jessamy Hollingberry. But," Noel said as she pulled George closer to her and whispered, "You look positively handsome."

"Right then, lovebirds! Shall we?" Fred said as he held out his hand for Jessamy, who gladly accepted and they were on their way to the Great Hall for the Yule Ball.

* * *

><p>The Yule Ball was something different. Noel hadn't expected to have that much fun at this ball, even though the heels she was wearing were starting to kill her feet. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, Fred and Jessamy had been dancing every since they arrived, Angelina seemed to perk up a bit when she finally arrived. Evie even seemed to be laughing with the boy who asked her to the dance.<p>

Though the only two that didn't seem to be having a good time were Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. They were with the Patil twins, who looked bored out of their minds. Noel wanted to go over there and talk to them, but George broke into her thoughts. She smiled up at him as they stopped dancing, only so they could get something to drink.

"So, ever going to tell me what was in that letter from home?" George asked Noel as they both took a sip from their cups. He hadn't asked the blonde about it before, and was almost afraid Noel would be upset for him asking. But he couldn't help it, he was curious. Instead Noel just shook her head as she spoke, "Nothing important. Mum needed to help grandmum out and dad was busy with work. Again. And something about Bryce."

"Go on." George asked, not afraid to press his luck this time.

Noel looked up at George and frowned, "Mum says Bryce's fiancée is pregnant."

George blinked and set his empty cup down on the table. "What? But aren't they getting married next year?"

Noel nodded. "Yeah. Dad's apparently okay with it, but mum's furious. So she told me it was best if I stayed here over the holidays. Which is fine, this is Bryce's thing to deal with, not mine." She nodded again, grabbing onto George's hand and taking him back to the dance floor. She didn't want to think about her family right now, she wanted to have fun that night.

The rest of the night was fun, Noel didn't remember when she was able to just cut loose and forget about homework, and tests and her family and just have fun for once.

"George, I was wondering. Can I ask you something?" Noel asked when they took a seat at their table.

"Anything for my lovely girlfriend." George smiled.

"Come to Bryce's wedding with me? I mean, I have to be a bridesmaid but please go with me. Bryce's friends are creepy and I'd be much happier if you were my date." Noel pleaded as she took her shoes off, those heels really were killing her.

George grinned and leaned forward once more, kissing the blonde's forehead. "I was going to go with you, whether you asked me or not. You're my girlfriend, and I want everyone to know it." Noel couldn't help but smile. For once, she was happy with how her life was turning out. Though she completely understood if he didn't want to meet her family. She didn't even want to meet her own family.

"Good. But, no Weasley products, please. Unless someone deserves it. The last thing I need is for my mum or aunt turning into a canary." Noel laughed at the thought and smiled at George.

"Can't promise anything, but I'll do my best." George looked up to see Fred chase Jessamy out of the Great Hall and the redhead looked back to Noel. "Wonder what that's about, be back in a moment." George pressed his lips to Noel's once more before walking out of the Great Hall after his twin.

* * *

><p>Evie skipped her way to Noel's table and sat down in the chair that George had just vacated. "Having fun?" Evie asked her and Noel smiled. "Never a dull moment with a Weasley." The blonde laughed in reply and Evie smiled. "Good. We've worked way too hard in classes lately, we all deserve to cut loose and dance." Evie stood up and did a little dance move before sitting back down again. "Though, I'm pooped. I was thinking of heading up soon. Where'd George go?" She asked and Noel looked around to see if her boyfriend had come back into the hall yet. With no sign of George the blonde shook her head. "He went to go talk to Fred but he might be out in the corridor."<p>

Deciding that her feet hurt too much, Noel kept her shoes in her hand and decided she was just going to walk out barefoot. The two of them said goodbye to a few people who were still left dancing, mainly Ginny Weasley and Neville Longbottom. Hermione Granger had managed to snag Viktor Krum as a date and they were still happily dancing away. Noel shot Hermione a quick thumbs up before they exited the Great Hall.

That was when Noel saw it, and her heart sank to her feet, or even possibly into the floor.

She found George most certainly. And his lips against someone else's, they most certainly weren't hers.

Those lips that were on her boyfriend's belonged to June King.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Gah, I'm so sorry this took so long to get out! Life has been horrible recently, I ended up losing my job right before Christmas [yeah merry Christmas to me. D:] and just recently decided to go back to school in March. I've decided to start cosmetology school and once I graduate, I'm being offered a job at a salon that my mother goes to. So that's wonderful! But, I hope this chapter is alright! I know it's a cliffhanger, and that June is evil. But I promise to have the next chapter up within a week or so! Thank you to those that have reviewed, favorited and added this story! You guys are amazing!<strong>


	12. A 16 Year Old's Soliloquy

**Disclaimer: As usual, I don't own Harry Potter or anything in the Harry Potter universe! JK Rowling does. But however, I do own Noel Honeybourne and a few random original characters that pop up in these chapters. Thank you to those of you who have been reviewing my little story here! I plan on wrapping this one up soon and have already begun brainstorming on the next one, which I'll hopefully have up soon! Thank you for reading, and as usual, please review!**

**Becoming an Adult is Difficult! **

**Chapter Twelve - "A 16 Year Old's Soliloquy"**

George Weasley left the Great Hall in search of his twin brother Fred. Fred had left seconds before in a hurry, running after a distraught looking Jessamy Hollingberry. George always had an inkling that Fred had a bit of a thing for the brunette girl, just like Fred always teased George about his crush on Noel since they were fourteen years old. The redhead promised Noel he'd be back quickly, just wanting to make sure his twin wasn't going to do something positively bonkers and ruin the friendship Fred had going on with Jessamy. Noel smiled at George and told him to go, the blonde would catch up with Jessamy later, she didn't want to bombard her best friend. Not yet, anyways.

But once George made his way to the corridor, he saw Jessamy running up the stairs, with Fred running after her. George sighed and as soon as he set his right foot on the bottom stair, someone grabbed his shoulder and turned him around.

Everything happened too quickly all at once. He thought perhaps it was Noel who grabbed him, especially seeing how that person was kissing him. But when his eyes focused, he saw that whoever it was definitely wasn't Noel. Dark hair, dark eyes, definitely taller than his girlfriend. George pulled away from her quickly and pushed her a good arms length away from him. "What the bloody hell are you doing?!" He shouted, attempting to maintain a safe distance between the two of them.

June smirked at George, crossing her arms defiantly over her chest. "Oh, nothing. Just something I've wanted to do for a very long time."

A very long time? George shook his head, all thoughts about Fred and Jessamy flew out of his head. Was June trying to say that she liked him? That couldn't be, he didn't even know the girl! Barely, anyways. What he knew about her was she and Noel used to be very good friends, especially before they started school at Hogwarts. Their parents were friends, or so George thought. And they grew up together, June King and Noel Honeybourne had known each other far longer than George knew Noel. There was nothing wrong with that.

"You're mad." Was all George was able to say in reply. He was doing his best to keep June away from him, but she kept pushing herself towards him.

"Mad for you, perhaps. You came to this silly ball with your precious little girlfriend, so why don't we -" The dark haired girl began to speak but George cut her off by throwing his right hand in the air.

This was getting ridiculous, George had to do something. "My precious little girlfriend?" George began yelling, little did he realize but Fred and Jessamy had stopped and began peering at him from the next flight of stairs. The loud talking that lead to shouting had caught their attention and they wanted to see what was going on. George's shouts cut through their thoughts once again.

"I've loved that girl ever since we were fifteen. Fifteen years old. I didn't even know how much I liked her until her fourteenth birthday. Fourteenth birthday, the day we blew up fourteen toilets and lit Evelyn Walker's hair on fire. That last bit by accident of course." George continued to shout. "Just because you see one of your best friends so happy, you find it to be the perfect reason to take it away from them? You're out of your damn mind!"

Fred and Jessamy looked at one another, Jessamy had a huge grin on her face and Fred just looked shocked. He knew his twin cared for Noel, but hadn't guessed George came to the conclusion of love. Not yet, anyways. They turned their attention back to George just to see that he was attempting to push past June, but she caught him, pressing her lips firmly against his.

That's when all hell broke loose. Noel appeared in the archway of the Great Hall, Evie right next to her. She saw it, just by the look on her face, everyone knew she saw it. Jessamy put a hand to her mouth and was about to shout when George must've spotted Noel. He quickly pushed June away and ran by her in an attempt to reach the blonde.

They couldn't hear what they were saying, except they could see the tears rolling down Noel's cheeks. Jessamy could see the hurt in Noel's eyes, she could read it on her face. But this wasn't George's fault, he hadn't started it. She and Fred saw what happened. It was all June's diabolical doing. "Fred." Jessamy whispered to the redhead standing next to her, and he turned to face her. "You did just see that none of this was George's fault, right?" She whispered again and Fred nodded. "That twit is trying to ruin everything." Fred frowned and wasn't sure what he was going to do next. Perhaps they would just wait, this had to blow over. George and Noel were meant for one another, they'd be able to talk all of this out. They had to. George was their mother's favorite, though they were the same person, George was supposed to get married first, and be the first to have kids. That way Fred would be the fun loving uncle, and he could teach his nieces or nephews how to misbehave. And blow things up.

"Don't you dare follow me, George Weasley!" They could hear Noel's shouts from their spot on the stairs, they then saw Noel walk out to the front of the castle, leaving George to stand there alone. Evie had run after Noel, who wasn't sure exactly what to do.

Jessamy took off towards George first, quickly followed by Fred. As soon as they were a few feet away from George, June decided to appear at his side once again.

But not before Jessamy could control herself. "You're such a prat, you know that?" June turned to face Jessamy. "You've been acting dodgy for the last few months and now we know why. You fancy George, and you just couldn't stand to see him so happy with Noel. Whom, if you've completely forgotten, was supposed to be your friend. But then you have to go and break her heart, and his heart," She pointed to George, who was standing there, dumbfounded, next to Fred. "Just get the hell away from us. Before I tell everyone the story about how you pissed in your bed when you were fifteen. Oh wait, I already did."

June looked horrified and completely embarrassed, she shook her head at Jessamy and huffed. "You don't know anything about me."

Jessamy stepped closer to June, her face mere inches away from the Ravenclaw's. "I know enough to realize just how big of a dimwit you are. An arsehole. Many other words and phrases that aren't meant for youngsters to hear. Get out of here. Before I make you sorry."

Fred and George looked at one another, ready to step in if they needed to break up a fight. Jessamy wasn't known to be a physical type of person, but the twins had never seen her react this way before so anything could happen.

"Stupid git." June muttered under her breath when she began to walk away.

"Well! At least I'm not bloated like you are!" Jessamy shouted, causing Fred to place an arm on her shoulder. "Stay away from the fried chicken, Juney!" Jessamy turned her shouts into something cheerful, and soon enough, June was out of sight.

The brunette turned to the twins and gave them a half smile. "Bloated? Really?" George asked. "Well, it was fitting. Did you see her face? Looked like if you poked her with a pin, she'd pop!" Fred burst into a bit of laughter, but George looked even more serious.

"Listen, Georgie." Jessamy said, turning the entirety of her attention to the twin on her left. "We'll explain all of this to Noel. She has to understand. You two are way too perfect to have something like this stop you."

"Obnoxiously perfect." Fred pretended to gag.

George frowned and shook his head, "I have to go find her. Now. She'll use this time to over think everything, to tell herself that I am a git and completely end things with me."

Jessamy shook her head. "It's up to you. But you know how she is. Give her some time. Let her get some sleep. I'm sure she'll come around in the morning."

George looked to his left to see Fred nodding in agreement with the brunette girl. "For once, I agree with the little girl." Jessamy shot Fred a quick glare before sighing loudly. "You know how girls are," Another death glare from Jessamy. "Give her some time. And before you know you two will be stuck together by the lips and all will be right in the kingdom."

Perhaps they were both right. Though he wanted desperately to run and find Noel, he knew that he should give her some time to calm down. The last thing he wanted to do was end this with a screaming match. Though none of this was any of his fault. But one thing was for certain, George was going to prove his innocence and everything was going to be fine.

* * *

><p>When George woke up the next morning, he stretched underneath his blankets and yawned. It was Christmas morning once again. It took him a few seconds to remember the events of the night before and he attempted to rub the sleep out of his eyes. The redhead didn't see Noel for the rest of the night, as soon as he got back to the Gryffindor Common Room, he waited around for her but the blonde never showed. George just assumed that Noel beat him back to the common room, that's why he hadn't seen her.<p>

After showering and kicking Fred out of bed, the twins walked downstairs to the common room. Jessamy and Evie were already up, and George couldn't help but notice that Noel was nowhere in sight. She was definitely still angry with him, he turned to walk back up the stairs when Evie's voice stopped him. "She's not here. Or upstairs." George turned back to face the group, cocking an eyebrow at the dark haired girl who spoke. "Noel went home. She didn't want to be here for Christmas." Evie looked down at her hands, that were resting on her lap. George frowned and sat down on the sofa, between Fred and Evie. "By the way, George." Evie spoke up. "I heard the story about what happened. Even though I wasn't there to see it, I have to believe you."

"Have to believe me?" George asked.

"June's been awfully jealous of how happy you've made Noel. I've heard her talking to her Ravenclaw cronies and from what Fred and Jessamy told me, I believe you." Evie turned to face George, giving him a comforting pat on his shoulder.

"Thanks but, I really need Noel to forgive me." George sighed in defeat, letting his shoulders slump forward.

Everyone told George to give Noel time, and everything would be fine. But now that Noel went home for Christmas, he wasn't sure how he was going to spend this next week wondering what if, what was going to happen, and if Noel was ever going to speak to him again.

As those who stayed at Hogwarts for Christmas opened their presents, George sat on the plush sofa in the common room. He got the usual jumper from his mother, this year she decided to knit him a green one. And thankfully, it didn't have a giant 'G' sewn into it or his name on it. There was one other present for George underneath the tree, when he bent down to pick it up he noticed it was from Noel. George frowned and shook his head. After he sat back down on the sofa, he placed the gift box on his lap and looked over at Fred. Fred was sitting on the floor right in front of the sofa, just now opening his jumper from their mother. Fred got a red jumper this year, and his name wasn't sewn into it either.

Jessamy and Evie were sitting next to George on the sofa, enthusiastically talking about something, though George wasn't paying attention to what it was. Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and George's youngest brother Ron were sitting at a table nearby, all opening their presents from one another. George sighed, he hated feeling this way, and he hated letting everyone around him see him this way. So he excused himself, gift box in hand, and walked up the stairs to his dormitory.

* * *

><p>After seeing George and June kissing, Noel knew she had to get away. Except she didn't realize that she needed to go home. Her brother warned her not to come home, but she did anyways. Professor McGonagall knew something was wrong with Noel, and allowed her to go home for the remainder of the Christmas holiday. Noel told Evie, so the others didn't worry about her, and said she'd be back after the new year.<p>

Coming home probably wasn't the greatest idea. But Noel didn't want to face George. Not yet. She knew that eventually she would have to, but she wasn't prepared yet. She just couldn't believe what she saw. George. June. Kissing. Noel just couldn't wrap her head around everything.

Noel spent the majority of her ride back home in tears, but she knew as soon as she appeared on the doorstep to her house, she knew she had to buck up. Her parents knew she was coming home, but they didn't know why. And Noel really didn't want to tell them about it. She hadn't even told them that she was seeing George in the first place. Noel was waiting for the right opportunity to tell them the news. She sighed, unsure of how they would even react to the news, but it probably didn't matter. George and June were making out the last time she saw them, George probably already forgot about her.

Unlocking the front door, Noel held onto her pink duffel bag and took her shoes off by the front door. "Hello?" She called out, wondering where her parents were. "Kitchen!" She heard her mother's voice call out from down the hallway. Noel set her bag down at the bottom of the stairway and padded her way into the kitchen.

There her mother stood, at the island, mixing the salad she was preparing for lunch. Noel had traveled all night to get home, and it was now Christmas morning. "Hey there, Noel. Glad your home." Her mom smiled, setting down the spoon and pulled her daughter in for a hug.

Noel returned the hug and yawned. She was tired, she barely slept a wink on the train. Normally she could easily sleep on the train, but last night was entirely different. "Good to see you mom." Noel spoke softly. All she wanted to do now was go to sleep. But it was Christmas, and it was a family holiday. If Noel wanted to go to sleep, she was sure her mother would be frustrated with her. "Where's dad?" Noel was almost afraid to mention Bryce's name.

Mrs. Honeybourne went back to tossing the salad. "Oh, he's upstairs getting ready. Your brother," She paused for a moment and sighed, "Will be here later."

Noel was surprised her mother even mentioned Bryce. She looked frustrated with the news of her only son's fiancée being pregnant. Normally it would be fine, but they weren't married yet. "Alice is joining him, supposedly." Alice was Bryce's fiancée. Noel only met her a few times, and she seemed nice. Unfortunately Noel had to take part in their wedding next year, per Bryce's request. Noel had never been a bridesmaid before, but she wasn't really looking forward to being stuck in a room full of Alice's friends. She was just so glad she invited George to be her date. George… Noel sighed at the thought. He wasn't going to be taking her to the wedding. Not after last night.

"Go up to your room and take a nap. I'll wake you up when everyone gets here." Mrs. Honeybourne smiled, setting the tossed salad aside and wiping the counters with a towel. "Thanks, mum." Noel stood up from the stool and went down the hallway. She picked up her bag and headed upstairs to her room.

It was strange how she hadn't been in her room for over four months. And it was exactly how she left it. Cream colored walls, a large four poster bed, plush carpet underneath her feet. While her bed at Hogwarts was comfortable, Noel really missed sleeping in her own bed. She sighed, setting her bag down on the chair in the corner of her room. Her mum was right, taking a quick nap would definitely help make her feel better. Without even changing out of her traveling clothes, Noel crawled into her bed and almost instantly fell asleep.

* * *

><p>Noel woke up a few hours later to a pecking noise on one of her windows. Her room was on the second floor, so there couldn't be anyone directly outside of her window. Glancing over to the clock on her nightstand, she saw it was 1pm, and her mother hadn't gotten her up yet, so no one had arrived yet. Rubbing her eyes lightly, she stepped out of her bed and padded over to the window.<p>

"Pig?" Pigwidgeon sat on the flowerbox outside of her window. Noel opened her window and the tiny little Scops owl flew onto her arm. The fluffy, white faced owl dropped a letter onto her desk and made a loud noise. "Alright, alright." Noel said, picking up an owl treat that was sitting atop of her armoire and feeding it to Pigwidgeon. The bird hooted happily and flew back to her windowsill.

Noel took the letter into her hands and read the return address. It was from George. The blonde set the letter back down on her desk and went to sit down on her bed. A few minutes went by and it was as if the letter was calling her name. Glaring in the direction of the desk, Pig was still on her windowsill, hooting to get the blonde's attention. Sighing, Noel got up and grabbed the letter, sitting down on the edge of her bed once again. She tore open the letter and began reading it.

_Noel Adelaide Honeybourne,_

_I know that you aren't fond of your full name, so now that I have your attention.._

_I know you're upset with me. But you have to believe me. When I left the ball, I went looking for Fred. Fred was chasing Jessamy up the stairwell when someone stopped me. June tried to get me to think badly about you, wanted me to dump you and ask her out. She was the one who kissed me, but who am I kidding. _

_It's you who I want. Your fourteenth birthday. Mum had a birthday party for you because your mum thought it would be silly for her fourteen year old daughter to have one. We had you over to the Burrow, we overloaded on cake and you knocked Fred off of his broom while playing Quidditch. He's still ticked off about that, by the way. But this isn't about that. I knew from that moment, when you sat at our kitchen table as all of us sang to you, that I loved being around you. My family loves you, more than they probably love me, and I would be a bloody fool if I let you get away. _

_No matter what it takes, I will prove to you that this wasn't my fault. I will prove to you just how much I love having you be a part of my life. _

_Though I wish you didn't go home for Christmas, I hope things aren't too crazy there. And if you haven't noticed yet, check Pigwidgeon out again, along with this letter I attached your Christmas present to it. I found yours underneath the tree, and I'm waiting for you to come back to open it. _

_We miss you. I miss you. And I'm truly sorry for what happened on Christmas Eve. You mean the world to me, and I don't want to say all of this in a letter. We'll talk when you come back for the new term. I promise._

_Love,_

_George Weasley_

_P.S. Fred says thank you for the new scarf. Crookshanks chewed through his old one and I was tired of hearing him complain just how cold he always was._

"It's not going to be that easy, George Weasley." Noel sighed when she set the letter down and walked over to Pigwidgeon. There was a small box tie to the fluffy little owl, so Noel untied it. Remembering what George mentioned in the letter, Noel decided she would wait to open the present until she got back to Hogwarts. If he was going to wait, then so was she.

"Noel! Lunch will be ready shortly!" Mrs. Honeybourne shouted from downstairs. Noel told her she'd be downstairs in a few minutes and tucked the letter from George underneath her pillow. It only took her a few minutes, and after she changed clothes to realize that George signed the letter '_love_'. And almost instantly, she could feel her cheeks flush and her heart begin to race. Did George love her? The blonde shook the thoughts from her head and ran downstairs, she needed a distraction, and fast.

* * *

><p>The Christmas holidays went by too quickly, though Noel was looking forward to going back to Hogwarts. Only because she was tired of hearing the arguing between her mother and her older brother, Bryce. She felt bad for Alice, who just sat there and let her future mother-in-law say horrible things about her. Noel understood that her mother was upset, but it was done and over with, she just needed to get over it.<p>

With her pink duffel in hand, Noel reentered Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry the day before the start of the new term. It was still morning, though late morning so Noel guessed everyone was still in bed. The corridors were quiet, only a few students roamed the halls either on their way to a late breakfast or an early lunch. Noel said hello to a few students and walked up to the portrait of the Fat Lady who guarded the entrance to Gryffindor Tower.

"Password, dear?" The Fat Lady asked her, smiling apologetically. It was as if the Fat Lady knew what happened. Honestly, word traveled quickly throughout this school, it drove Noel mad.

"Balderdash." Noel said, shifted her duffel from one shoulder to the other. The blonde would never admit to owning too many articles of clothing, but right now her duffel was stuffed to the brim and it was beginning to cut off the circulation to her arm.

"Very well, dear." The Fat Lady said, swinging the portrait open to reveal the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room. "And I hope you at least hear that poor boy out." The Fat Lady said just before Noel stepped through the portrait hole.

"Pardon me?" Noel asked the Fat Lady, stopping in her tracks.

"Dear George. He's been moping around since you left. And from what I hear, it wasn't his fault. Give him a chance, dearie. He cares so much about you." The Fat Lady spoke softly, which left Noel in awe. Normally the Fat Lady was practicing her opera singing, or snickering at Neville Longbottom for always forgetting the passwords.

"Perhaps I will. Thanks." Noel said, still baffled at her run in with the Fat Lady.

It seemed like most of the Gryffindors were still in bed, there was nobody in the common room when Noel set foot inside of it. The blonde trudged up the stairwell, dropping off her duffel back into her dormitory. Jessamy and Evie were still asleep, while Angelina was nowhere to be found and Alicia still wasn't back from visiting her family for the holidays. Not wanting to disturb anyone, Noel left and decided to just sit on the sofa in the common room, until everybody woke up.

But Noel stopped the moment her foot got off of the last step. George was standing in front of the fireplace, his brown eyes locked onto Noel's tired green eyes.

"Noel, I'm so sorry about what happened on Christmas Eve. It wasn't me, honestly." George knew this probably wasn't the best way to approach this, but the words just spewed out of his mouth without warning. "You mean so much to me and I don't know what I'd do without you."

George continued on and Noel's thoughts jumbled inside of her head. She wanted to scream and shout at him, to call him an arse and to smack him upside the head. She wanted to tell him just how angry she was with him, and all the while, she couldn't bring herself to do it. Noel was in denial, she knew June had been acting dodgy lately, so when she got to thinking about the situation, she became less and less surprised it happened. George wouldn't do something like that, and while it did look like George was trying to push June away, it still hurt her. The mere thought of her boyfriend kissing someone she used to think was one of her best friends broke her heart.

Noel took a few steps closer to George, they were a few feet apart now. "George Gideon Weasley." The blonde inched closer to George, and for a moment, George was afraid Noel was going to hit him. Or murder him. Or attempt to flush him down a toilet. "You're lucky I believe you. Well, it also helped that you had Fred and Jessamy on your side and saw the whole thing happen. But," Noel took hold of George's shirt and pulled him closer to him, pressing her lips firmly against his.

The pair stayed that way for what seemed like ages, but it was a few seconds in reality. Noel pulled away first, then smiling up at George. "You're forgiven." The words caused George to grin at the petite girl in front of him. "But please, let's not do that ever again. Not fight to the extent that I end up acting so stupid and running off. I had to go home. I had to deal with my mum and her shouting at my brother and his fiancée and deal with my dad attempting to ruin my clothes in the wash." Noel began to rant but George kissed her lips softly to cut her off, and because he missed being able to kiss the blonde.

"I promise, everything's going to be fine. But I need to warn you about something." George smiled, pulling Noel against him, wrapping his arms around her shoulders.

"What did you do now?" Noel asked suspiciously.

"Well," George began, resting his chin on top of Noel's head. "I may have 'accidentally' lit June's breakfast on fire the other day. She currently doesn't have any eyebrows. And a good chunk of her hair singed off." Noel had to bite her bottom lip to keep herself from laughing too loudly. "And Fred slipped her a nosebleed nougat. You'll be happy to know she won't be bothering us for a long time."

"You better be right. Or I'm going to have to find another date to my brother's wedding." George pretended to be hurt and put a hand to his chest. "Well then, I'll just have to work extra hard because you're my girl, and I'm taking you to that wedding."

Noel smiled, letting her cheek rest against George's chest. "Hey, George?" The blonde asked while George replied, "Hmm?"

"I missed you." Noel spoke into his chest, finally happy to be home again.

"I miss you, too. Definitely more. Just ask Fred. I named my pillow Noel." George smiled, hugging Noel tightly to his chest.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes: Well, this update was fairly quick! Who would've guessed I'd update twice in a week! There's about two chapters left in this story, and I'll begin publishing the second of the trilogy, which takes place during Order of the Phoenix! So I hope you'll all look out for that one. But for now, I'm going to do my best and get these last chapters up in a decent manner. I've been horrible with updating, but I'm going to try to update more before school starts up. Thanks again to those who have read, favorited and reviewed this little story of mine. So look out for the last few chapters and keep reviewing!<strong>


	13. A Philosophy That Doesn't Turn Ugly

**Disclaimer: As usual, I don't own Harry Potter or anything in the Harry Potter universe! JK Rowling does. But however, I do own Noel Honeybourne and a few random original characters that pop up in these chapters. Thank you to those of you who have been reviewing my little story here! I plan on wrapping this one up soon and have already begun brainstorming on the next one, which I'll hopefully have up soon! Thank you for reading, and as usual, please review!**

**Becoming an Adult is Difficult! **

**Chapter Thirteen - "A Philosophy That Doesn't Turn Ugly"**

Life continued on as relatively normal as possible for the students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Well, as normal as it could get when the Triwizard Tournament was going on. It was nearing the end of February, which only signaled that the snow would have to stop eventually and the Second Task was coming up quickly. And since Noel Honeybourne missed her opportunity to witness the First Task with her own eyes, she was determined to see the Second Task. That is, if another nasty cold doesn't knock her off of her game once again.

The week before the Second Task was set to take place, Noel sat through her final class for the week, Defense Against the Dark Arts. Thankfully, the second hour was nearly over, because the blonde wasn't really into learning about the guardians of Azkaban, the dementors. Everyone who had been to school the previous year had seen the cloaked creatures on a near daily basis, and Noel disliked them. But who did, really? No sane person that Noel Honeybourne knew.

"For next class, I want three rolls of parchment, detailing the dementors and their abilities, appearance and ways you can protect yourself from them." Professor Moody spoke as he stood in front of the classroom.

Moody was talking, but Noel wasn't particularly paying much attention. Her chin resting in the palm of her hand, her eyes stayed focus on the nearly blank parchment on her desk. It wasn't until Moody dismissed their class, and someone snapped their fingers in front of her that Noel snapped back to reality. The blonde looked up to see George standing before her, grin plastered on his face. "Welcome back to Earth, m'lady."

Noel felt her face flush, slightly embarrassed that she was caught zoning out in class. "What'd I miss?" She asked as she stood up, gathering all of her things into her arms. Fred and Jessamy were waiting for George and Noel once they reached the corridor.

"Oh, nothing special. Moody took all of his clothes off, put a grass skirt on, also a coconut bra and began doing the hula." George started to say, then continued, "Actually, he even told everyone he was quitting his job, and asked if I could teach the class for the rest of the year."

Jessamy snorted once she heard what George said. "You're full of it. Noel obviously doesn't believe a word of that." The brunette paused for a moment, turning to Noel. "You don't believe that, right?"

The four stopped in the middle of the corridor and Noel shook her head. "I don't believe it for one, it wouldn't ever happen. And two, everyone would've thrown up if they'd seen Moody wearing a grass skirt and coconut bra, doing the hula in class." Noel shuddered just thinking about it, and the fact that since they were talking about him, Moody probably heard everything they just said. Moody was incredibly creepy like that.

"True. A barf bag the size of Russia wouldn't be able to help us all." Fred responded as the group resumed walking again. Thankfully, they didn't need a barf bag the size of Russia.

When they rounded the corner, Noel stopped in her tracks and ran a hand through her curly blonde hair. "Hey, I'll meet you guys back in the common room. I forgot I need to head to the library."

The others stopped, but Jessamy walked back to Noel's side. "What for?"

Noel sighed, adjusting the bag on her shoulder. "Binns is making us write about the Giant Wars, and I need to go find some books." Which Noel obviously wasn't looking forward to doing.

George waved his right hand in the air and smiled, "I'd love to join my dear lady but Fred and I have some business to attend to."

"More like plot to feed all of the Slytherin quidditch team some wonderful candies." Fred continued.

Jessamy and Noel exchanged glances, not surprised by any of this.

"Brilliant, delicious candies." George spoke up.

"If I see Graham Montague or Miles Bletchley coughing up canary feathers or having severe nosebleeds, I'll pretend I know nothing." Noel held up her hands in defense, knowing full well that if she did indeed see those things, she would just laugh.

"Excellent." George pulled Noel in for a quick kiss on her lips before pulling away. "But if I don't see you before dinner, I will be forced to drag you out of that library and your history books will be in a horrific accident involving a fire and toilet water."

Noel couldn't help but laugh. "So harsh. Whatever did my books for Binns class do to you?"

"Steal you away from me, of course. I ought to have a chat with Binns, though he wouldn't remember me. Or he'd just keep calling me Bill. Or Charlie again." George frowned, remembering that his time in History of Magic was either spent asleep, or trying to guess which of his brothers Professor Binns would call him next. It was all a bit of a game to George.

"Yes, sir. We'll be back for dinner." Noel and Jessamy waved to the twins before they turned around and headed towards the library.

* * *

><p>Fred and George Weasley were on their way back to the Gryffindor Common Room when someone nearly ran into them as they rounded a corner.<p>

"Oy!"

"Oof!"

"Ouch!"

"Sorry!"

"Hopefully we don't need to exchange insurance information." The voice belonged to Cedric Diggory. Not who George really wanted to see, and by the look on Fred's face, also a person he didn't want to see either.

The twins exchanged glances and for once seemed to be at a loss for words.

The tension in the air could be cut with a butter knife, and all three of them sensed it. "George, can I talk to you? Alone?" Cedric gave both Weasleys a small smile.

Fred blinked curiously looking over at George as if making sure it was okay for him to leave. George nodded to Fred, indicating that it was fine. "Go on, I'll be up in a few minutes."

Waving at the two, Fred turned on his heels and went along his way back to the common room. He knew there was nothing to worry about involving Cedric, Fred just wasn't a part of the Cedric Diggory Fanclub.

Once Fred disappeared around the corner, George turned to Cedric and raised an eyebrow curiously. "What can I help you with, Diggory?" He asked, not trying to sound rude but he couldn't help that's the way his words came out.

Sighing, Cedric ran a hand through his shaggy dark hair and let his hand fall back down to his side. "Listen, I know this year started off badly between the two of us," He began speaking, indicating that their pursuit of Noel earlier in the school year caused tension between them. George nodded along with Cedric's words, giving him permission to continue on. "It's just, I always liked her. She was one of the few girls who didn't follow me around, or constantly ask me to go on dates with her."

George scrunched his eyebrows in confusion, opening his mouth to protest Cedric quickly raised a hand in the air and stopped George from shouting. "Wait, let me finish."

The redhead sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. Cedric was right, might as well let the Hufflepuff finish before George couldn't take it anymore. "I will always have feelings for Noel but," Cedric hung his head for a few seconds before looking back up at George. "I see how happy she is with you, and as much as I wish it were me making her happy, I'm glad it's you."

Now before Cedric could finish what he was saying, George was mentally preparing how to destroy Cedric. Should he just punch him in the face? Feed him to some creature in the Forbidden Forest? Make him eat some of Ginny's cooking? But once Cedric finished talking, George just stood there, baffled. "Wait, rewind, repeat."

Cedric laughed softly and repeated himself. "You make Noel so happy. And even though I'd rather it be me, but since it isn't, I'm glad you're the one who makes her so happy." All Cedric had to do was wait and see just how long it took to feel George smashing his nose back into his skull. But it never came, so Cedric was able to breathe a sigh of relief.

George stood there for a moment, his arms still crossed over his chest. Was Cedric Diggory, Heartthrob of Hogwarts, Hufflepuff's King, Triwizard Participant, telling George Weasley that he won? That was it, all of this had to be some sort of dream. It had to be.

"So, what you're saying is, I won?" George asked curiously, wanting to make sure this wasn't all just a dream.

The Hufflepuff nodded, reaching his hand out in an attempt to shake George's hand. "As long as you continue to make her happy, I'm out."

Brown eyes looked down to the outstretched hand before him, and for once, George didn't hesitate. "Good job then, mate." George grinned, shaking Cedric's hand before they both let their hands fall back down at their sides.

Cedric breathed a sigh of relief, pretending to wipe the nonexistent sweat from his forehead. "Good, because here I thought you'd either murder me or hate me forever."

"Well, I don't want to go to Azkaban for murdering you, besides, your fan club would murder me in return." George laughed, adjusting his backpack on one shoulder to keep it from falling to the ground.

The pair stood there in silence for a moment or two before Cedric spoke back up. "Actually, I wanted to ask you something."

George looked over to Cedric and raised an eyebrow out of curiosity again. "No I am not sabotaging Harry Potter for the Second Task. Or the final one, either. And I only blow up toilets in the prefect bathrooms on Wednesdays."

Shaking his head, Cedric laughed. "No, I was wondering if you could help me out with something."

* * *

><p>Noel had found the books she was looking for, and while she didn't want to lug them back to the common room with her, she decided to just do her research in the library. She had plenty of time before dinner, and if she was able to work without Jessamy constantly interrupting her, everything would be fine.<p>

At some point during her frantic scribbling down notes on the Giant Wars, Jessamy mentioned she needed to head to the Owlery, to send off a letter to her dad. Noel wasn't fond of asking questions about Jessamy's family, but she knew her brunette friend was going through a difficult time. Jessamy was born in Tokyo, Japan to her Japanese mother and her English father. The brunette's parents tried to make their marriage work out, but with the stress associated with traveling from one country to another constantly, her parents decided to get a divorce last year. Noel couldn't even comprehend what her best friend was going through, having her father living in London and her mother all the way in Tokyo. But another part of Noel was absolutely terrified of losing her best friend. If Jessamy chose to move back to Japan, Noel would be sad.

The blonde shook her head and tried to toss those thoughts out of her mind. At the end of next school year, they would all be of age and could live wherever they wanted to. Maybe Jessamy wouldn't go back to Japan. Noel wasn't sure, but she didn't think she'd be living back home with her parents after she graduates from Hogwarts.

Noel sighed, she didn't have time to think about that yet. She needed to finish her research on the Giant Wars first. It seemed like hours went by as she jotted her notes down, though it felt like days went by. Noel was the only person in the universe that liked History of Magic, but she was beginning to get tired of the subject. Maybe she was finally catching up with everyone else and their dislike with the subject.

With one more chapter to go, Noel let her head rest on her forearms, which were placed atop the table. _You can get this done. Just one more chapter and then you have the entire weekend to goof off. _Oh, who was she kidding? They were scheduled to go to Hogsmeade on Saturday and the blonde was thinking of staying behind and studying for her exams.

"Hello there, gorgeous."

Upon hearing George's voice Noel lifted her head so her chin was resting on her hands. Was it really that late? Or did she completely miss dinner? Fred probably ate everything in sight, and if he didn't, Ron did. "Did I miss dinner?"

George's mouth spread into a smile and he pulled the notebook out from underneath Noel's arms. "No, but I do have some interesting news for you."

Noel's green eyes blinked as George took her notebook out from under her. "Wait, you're in the library."

The redhead glanced up from the notebook and nodded, "Yes, I am. And no, I'm not a handsome figment of your imagination. I'm truly here." George made a mental note to make sure Noel got plenty of rest this upcoming weekend. She was looking tired and all of the papers, homework and exams they'd been having lately clearly weren't agreeing with her.

"Are you sure you won't spontaneously combust since you're in the library?" Noel asked, a small smile appearing on her face.

"That's my girl." George leaned forward and lightly kissed the blonde's forehead. "But no, you wouldn't guess who literally ran into myself and Fred after class."

Noel took the notebook back from George and began scribbling down the last bits of notes from the final chapter in her book. She looked up and shook her head. "The giant squid?"

"No."

"Draco Malfoy wearing a skirt?"

George laughed. "Thankfully not."

"Draco Malfoy wearing a koala costume?"

"Wrong again. Cedric Diggory." George whispered.

Noel scrunched up her nose, confused. The blonde knew how George felt about Cedric. He wasn't the Hufflepuff's biggest fan. "What'd he want?" Now Noel was no longer interested in taking notes for her research.

With his elbow propped up on the table, George rested his chin in the palm of his hand. "Oh, nothing much. Apologized for trying to steal you away from me at the beginning of the year, says I'm the most perfect boyfriend for you, and oh, wants us to go to Hogsmeade with him and Cho Chang tomorrow."

Cue complete confusion. "Boyfriend of the year award, indeed. But why does he want us to go with him and Cho to Hogsmeade?" Noel asked, closing up her notebook and the books in front of her. She wasn't in the mood to write anymore, so she decided to just call it quits.

As she began gathering her things into her bag, George continued to talk. "No idea. Seemed like a friendly gesture. You up for it?"

Once her bag was closed and over her shoulder Noel shrugged. "Doesn't sound like a bad idea. I'm just surprised you agreed to it." George reached over and took the bag off of Noel's shoulder. "I'll carry that for you and well, I only want you to be happy."

As she put the rest of the books back on their shelves, Noel smiled. Things were really starting to look up for her. Her relationship with George was the best it's ever been, George was getting along with Cedric, and there were only a little over three months left in the school year.

"So far, you're doing a wonderful job." Noel linked her hand with George's and they walked out of the library and down the corridor for the Great Hall.

* * *

><p>Hogsmeade was a nice change of scenery from attending classes and doing little else. It was the first time that school year that Noel decided to go to the village, and was glad she let George talk her into it. And what surprised Noel was just how well George and Cedric were getting along. As the four of them sat in the Three Broomsticks, they talked and joked, and Cedric even asked George for pranking advice.<p>

"Dear Cedric, you can never beat the masters of that subject but, we would be glad to help you along." George laughed, taking a drink of his butter beer.

Cho Chang seemed quiet whenever Noel saw her, but she kept up with the conversation. Noel was slowly warming up to her and was actually glad to be in the Ravenclaw's company. Not that the blonde had anything against anyone in Ravenclaw. Except June.

As George and Cedric were talking about which quidditch team they thought would top the British and Irish League, Noel and Cho rolled their eyes at their boyfriends.

"Cho, can I ask you something?" Noel asked the girl seated across the table from her.

"Sure." Cho said, smiling at the blonde Gryffindor.

"What do you know about June King? She's in your house, sixth year." Perhaps Noel shouldn't be asking, but since she and June were in two different houses, she wanted to know.

The dark haired girl stopped for a moment to think and shook her head. "I don't know her very well. Not really a fan of hers, actually, most in our house don't like her. She mainly keeps to herself." Cho nodded and set her mug of butterbeer down onto the table.

So much for asking Cho Chang about June King.

"Actually," Cho spoke up again. "She did mention you once. It was when you and George started dating." Noel and George had been together for six months now, so June must really be holding a grudge against her. "Said something about how he'd get bored of you quickly. But you'd be surprised how many people told her to shut up." Really? Noel didn't know that anyone else in Ravenclaw really knew about her and George. But who was she kidding, the whole school knew about it. "You should've seen it, Roger Davies wouldn't hear it. He told her to shut up." Cho laughed, which caused Noel to laugh.

Noel never thought she would think this, but she was having fun with not only George, but with Cho Chang and Cedric Diggory. And no one had their hair set on fire.

* * *

><p>Later that evening, Noel stretched out on the plush couch in the Gryffindor Common Room. The blonde's head was resting on George's lap, while Jessamy and Fred were sitting around the table in front of the couch. Just yesterday Noel was stressing over all the work she needed to do for her classes, but since she took Saturday off to spend time with George, and her newfound friendships with Cho Chang and Cedric Diggory, Noel seemed happier.<p>

"George?" Noel asked, looking up at the redhead.

George was idly playing with one of Noel's blonde curls when he looked down at her. "Hmm?"

"I can't believe I'm going to say this but, I actually had fun in Hogsmeade today. And I still can't believe you're getting along with Cedric." Noel smiled, she was wondering if all of this was a dream.

George leaned forward slightly and gave Noel the patent Weasley Grin. "The world works in mysterious ways. But as long as I'm with you," He leaned further down, kissing Noel's forehead.

"Ew!"

"Gross!"

"Yeah, gross! Get a room, Georgie!" Fred and Jessamy laughed from the floor. Noel laughed and dodged the various objects they began throwing at each other. Noel wanted to remember this moment for as long as she could, just being happy and being around the people that care about her.

George was right, the world does work in mysterious ways.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: What is this? Three chapters in less than two weeks? Terrifying, I know. And this was a bit of a filler chapter, nothing too special but I didn't want to fit all of this and the Second Task into one very long chapter. So I've decided that there will be only two more chapters left of Becoming an Adult is Difficult! Good news is, I've begun writing the first few chapters on the sequel and soon after this story is finished, I'll begin posting that. <strong>

**Thank you to all who have followed, favorited and reviewed this little story of mine. I appreciate it!**


	14. Uneven Seventeen

**Disclaimer: As usual, I don't own Harry Potter or anything in the Harry Potter universe! JK Rowling does. But however, I do own Noel Honeybourne and a few random original characters that pop up in these chapters. Thank you to those of you who have been reviewing my little story here! I plan on wrapping this one up soon and have already begun brainstorming on the next one, which I'll hopefully have up soon! Thank you for reading, and as usual, please review!**

**Becoming an Adult is Difficult! **

**Chapter Fourteen - "Uneven Seventeen"**

Friday February 24th, 1995, not only was it a very cold morning, but it was also the day of the Second Task in the Triwizard Tournament. It was also because of the chilly air and the fact that the task was to take place at 9:30 am, that Noel didn't want to leave her warm bed. If she could watch the task from her toasty warm bed, then all of this would be perfect. Unfortunately, it wouldn't work out that way.

Groaning, Noel sat up and let her legs dangle over the edge of her bed. The only good thing about the day was since it was Friday, the task allowed for all classes to be canceled. Which meant a three day weekend. One extra day where she didn't have to worry about a potions exam on Golpalott's Third Law for making antidotes, or trying to figure out the Bird-Conjuring Charm. All Noel really needed to worry about that day was not freezing her behind off.

Surprisingly, she wasn't the first one up. Angelina had just exited the bathroom and waved a quick hello to Noel. It was weird, Angelina had been so distant from everyone this year. Fred had barely spoken a word about Angelina, and Noel had no idea why. They seemed so tight last year, Fred had found a stable relationship. Then it hit her. Noel's green eyes wandered to Jessamy's bed and she thought about it. Jessamy and Fred. The clues were all there. They say it's easier to tell if someone has feelings for another person other than yourself. You're absolutely clueless when it comes to someone liking you. So why didn't Noel see this sooner? Angelina obviously had, and that's why she'd been so distant. Noel put her face in her hands and sighed.

Shaking her head, Noel quietly padded her way into the bathroom to get ready. She knew that eventually she would have to ask Jessamy how she felt about Fred. But for now, she'd let it go.

It didn't take the blonde very long to get ready, throwing on a black pair of pants, long sleeved shirt with a maroon jumper over top. With a flick of her wand, her hair was dry so at least that wouldn't freeze once they went outside. When she walked back into the dormitory, the others were just starting to slowly get out of bed. Noel plopped back down on her bed and reached underneath it for her boots. It was cold out, she was wearing boots. And very thick, heavy socks.

Jessamy made a groaning noise as she slowly walked into the bathroom and shut the door behind her. Evie wasn't awake yet, and neither was Alicia. But Noel wasn't too worried about them, they seemed to get up at the last minute every single day and never minded.

Sitting down on the edge of her bed once again, Noel leaned back down against her mattress. She had to wait for Jessamy to get ready, but she didn't feel like moving from her spot. It was also unlikely that George was even up yet, so it wasn't as if Noel could just go wait down in the common room with him and Fred.

Once Jessamy was ready, Noel was glad because if she had been in her bed any longer, she would've fallen back to sleep. And there was no way she was missing this task, not after missing the first one.

Evie and Alicia had both finally gotten up, and were off getting ready. Noel sat back up and watched as Jessamy messed around with her hair. Her brunette friend added a red hair bow to the ponytail she just put up and Noel laughed. "Jessamy?"

"Hmm?" The brunette mumbled, she had a few bobby pins in her mouth and couldn't quite speak.

It was now or never. "Has something happened between you and Fred? I mean, well, do you two like each other?" Because it would be perfectly fine and dandy if they did. Both Fred and Jessamy meant so much to Noel, and she only wanted to see them happy. So why not be happy together?

Cue Jessamy spewing the bobby pins right out of her mouth and onto the floor. "What?!"

Uh oh. Noel has made Jessamy mad. _Please don't morph into a giant green rage monster!_

Noel wasn't sure what to say, so she stood up. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything." The blonde went towards the door when Jessamy asked her to stop.

"Listen, I'm not mad. So I'm not going to go all Godzilla on you." The brunette sighed as soon as Noel turned around. Jessamy bent down to pick up the pins from the floor and quickly secured them into her hair. "And yes, I may fancy that dimwit just a bit. Wait. Did I just rhyme? At 8:30 in the morning?"

Noel waved her hand in the air and smiled. "Yes, you did just rhyme and you know what you said to me when I realized how I felt about George?"

Both girls grabbed their jackets and scarves, Noel opted for a winter hat while Jessamy grabbed a pair of earmuffs. She wouldn't want to mess up that perfect little bow of hers, now would she? "What?" Jessamy asked.

"It's about damn time."

* * *

><p>With a nice warm breakfast filling their stomachs, everyone ventured outside to the shores of the lake, where the four champions had already gathered. It was your typical February morning, brisk, windy and while it wasn't snowing, there was snow falling from nearby trees. Everyone had made sure to bundle up before going outside, wearing jackets, scarves, winter hats and gloves. Noel even seriously considered putting on two pairs of pants, but thought that it would be overkill and decided against it.<p>

The Second Task was still a mystery to those watching, though that didn't stop people from guessing what had to be done. Someone guessed that the champions had to battle a bunch of boggarts. A certain Fred Weasley thought that the task had something to do with Snape in his underwear. "Boxers with shiny pink hearts on them."

"All of our champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle. They have exactly one hour to recover something that has been taken from them." Shouted Ludo Bagman, who received many glares from Fred and George, before blowing his whistle.

When Harry Potter, Cedric Diggory, Viktor Krum and Fleur Delacour dove into the freezing waters of the lake, Noel shuddered. It was bad enough being outside under multiple layers of clothing, she couldn't understand how the champions felt. Especially whenever they were going to resurface. "What exactly are they doing?" Noel asked, craning her neck to see nothing in particular. "And what exactly are they looking for?"

George, who had his arm around Noel's shoulder shook his head. "No clue." George looked around and couldn't see Ron anywhere. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen Hermione either. They must've been off standing somewhere else, anxiously awaited Harry's return to shore.

Jessamy, who had been standing beside Noel, was bobbing on her heels. _That girl seems more antsy than normal, _George thought to himself. The brunette had a hard enough time keeping still when it wasn't freezing outside.

The clock on the shore indicated that the task was only a few minutes in, and there'd been no sign of any progress. Not that you could tell what was going on beneath the chilly waters of the lake. Ten minutes went by, then fifteen. Once the clocked ticked down to just a little over half an hour left, someone emerged from the water.

George had it easy, he was taller than most of the students there so he could see what was going on with ease. "Hey, Gigantor, a little help please?" Noel teased, poking George's side with an index finger. George grinned before bending over slightly, picking Noel up on his back as if he were going to give her a piggyback ride. "Much better, thank you." Noel said, kissing George's cheek. At least now she could see something besides everyone's backs.

It was Fleur Delacour who surfaced first, and upon first glance, she looked empty handed. Weren't the champions supposed to bring something back with them? But even though Fleur returned, nothing was said about what was going on. Krum, Cedric and Harry still hadn't come back yet. Sighing, Noel rested her chin on George's shoulder. "Why don't they tell us anything?" She heard Jessamy ask below her, standing in between Fred and George.

"Maybe once everyone shows up?" Evie spoke up, shrugging her shoulders.

More minutes went by, and soon enough, Cedric Diggory showed up. And he was definitely carrying something out of the water. Upon further inspection, everyone saw it wasn't just something, it was someone. "Oh, it's Cho!" Noel pointed when both Cedric and Cho were wrapped up with blankets, standing off on the sidelines. Not too long after Cedric appeared, Krum did as well. Krum had brought Hermione back with him, causing Evie to think aloud, "So that's why Hermione wasn't hanging around here."

As everyone stood there, watching the clock slowly tick down to just seconds left, everyone was anxiously awaiting the return of Harry Potter. At just the last second, he popped out of the water with not one person, but two. Ron Weasley and a young girl with light blonde hair. "What the? How come Harry has two people?" Jessamy asked, jumping up and down in an attempt to get a better look.

Evie shook her head, "Perhaps that girl was meant for Fleur? They look similar."

Good point.

After a few minutes of everyone running around, Dumbledore talking with everyone, he stood in front of everyone to make an announcement.

"Hopefully none of you have frozen just yet, so I'll try and make this quick!" Dumbledore spoke, "Due to being forced to retire because of a nasty grindylow attack, Fleur Delacour will be in fourth place with twenty-five points." Noel looked to Fleur, who was huddled next to the young girl who Harry brought back from the lake. That was definitely her sister. "In third place, with forty points is Viktor Krum!" Everyone continued to clap, though Krum and the other Durmstrang students didn't look happy seeing Krum come in third when he finished before Harry Potter. "Even though he came back with just seconds to spare, I've been informed that Harry Potter rescued not only his hostage, but Miss Delacour's as well. Thus we've decided to give Harry Potter forty-five points. This leaves Cedric Diggory with forty-seven points and first place for the Second Task!" Dumbledore's voice boomed and everyone, most likely everyone, clapped and cheered. Noel slid down George's back, allowing George use of his hands again. They all clapped, cheered and shouted for both Harry and Cedric.

After going over and congratulating Cedric, Cho asked Noel stopped Noel. "Oh, Noel! This is going to sound really random but, isn't your birthday coming up?" The Ravenclaw asked.

That's right, Noel's birthday was coming up, she'd honestly forgotten about it. Looking over at George, who patted Cedric's back before turning to Harry and hoisted him up in the air with help from Fred. "March 23rd, yeah. Why?"

Cho smiled and waved her right hand in the air. "Just curious. And I wanted to see what you wanted for your birthday."

Noel blinked, shaking her head. "You don't have to get me anything. Because really, I haven't thought much about it." Normally she didn't ask for things on her birthday, though there was one time that Fred fed her favorite pair of pants to the giant squid in the lake, so Noel asked for a new pair of pants. "Stupid git Fred feeding my pants to a squid…" Noel mumbled, causing Cho to ask her what was wrong. "Nothing. But really, please, don't get me anything."

"Nonsense! We want to get you something." Cho nodded her head.

Noel shook her head, asking, "We? What do you mean we?"

Cho smiled again. "Myself and Cedric. I know it must've been awkward for George to hang out with us with how he felt about Cedric." The raven haired girl hung her head slowly before looking back up. "I mean, I know Cedric really liked you. And I was just his back up."

Well that made Noel feel horrible. Noel reached forward, putting her hand on Cho's shoulder. "No. You're not his back up. Look, Cedric is lucky to have you. He's so much better off with you, not me. I mean, think of it this way, George would probably forget to sleep at a decent time, eat regular meals and tie his shoes properly if I weren't around." Noel joked, but really, there was one day when he asked Noel to tie his shoes for him. She wasn't sure if he was joking or not.

That caused Cho to laugh, nodding her head in reply. "Yes but, you caught his eye first." Noel felt her chest tighten. She didn't try to catch Cedric's eye, and she hated seeing Cho so sad. "It was probably because the first time he saw me, my hair was on fire. Literally." Noel looked back to see Fred and George talking with a group on unsuspecting first years. Those poor things.

"But! What's in the past is past. You've got George, so there's nothing to worry about." Cho said, pulling Noel in for a hug.

The blonde still couldn't help but feel awful, but better at the same time. There was absolutely nothing to worry about. Noel had George and even though she was afraid to say it, she was beginning to fall in love with him.

* * *

><p><em>It's far too early to say 'I love you'<em> Noel constantly thought to herself over the next few weeks. Even though George had written _love_ in the letter he sent to Noel over Christmas break, she was still afraid that if she said it, it would ruin everything. And besides, with George writing love in that letter, it didn't necessarily mean that he _loved_ her. Noel sighed, she just needed to forget about it.

Her birthday was certainly starting out on a wonderful note, with double potions. Double the Snape on her seventeenth birthday. "Happy Birthday to me." Noel grumbled, heading down the corridor towards the dungeons. Once she reached the classroom, she sat down in her usual seat, waiting for the others to arrive. First June walked in, barely looking Noel's way, which was fine by her. Then Jessamy and Evie walked in, eagerly chatting about something. As soon as Noel looked up at them, they quickly got quiet. Noel frowned, but decided to forget about it.

She got to sit through a double dose of potions, learning about Polyjuice Potion. And all Noel wanted to do was smack her head against her desk and just walk out. It was her birthday, her seventeenth birthday. And no one had said anything to her! Except George, who said happy birthday to her that morning then promptly disappeared. Right after Herbology.

When class was over, Jessamy and Evie both said they had somewhere to go, and took off before Noel could say anything. Sighing, the blonde decided she was going to skip dinner. If everyone was going to act that way, she'll just spend the rest of the night in her dorm, sleeping.

* * *

><p>"You said something to her?!" Jessamy shouted, throwing a spoon at George's head across the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall.<p>

"Well, I am her boyfriend. If I go without wishing her a happy birthday, on her birthday, she'll one, never let me live it down. Two, kill me. And three, bring me back to life and then kill me again." George held his hands up in defense. George was joined by Fred, Jessamy, Evie and Ginny during dinner. They were waiting for Noel to join them, but so far she hadn't shown up.

"Well, she's getting her birthday surprise right after dinner!" Jessamy sulked, Ginny lightly patted her back.

Hermione had just walked by, but stopped right behind George. "Oh, is Noel not here yet?" She asked, scanning the table for the blonde but not seeing her.

Fred shook his head, "Nah, we think she got eaten by Snape. She apparently sulked all throughout potions." Jessamy and Evie nodded, they witnessed the whole thing.

"Oh, well. Is everything still on for after dinner? Because Cho gave me this to give to her." Hermione held up a small package.

George nodded. "As soon as she shows up for dinner, she'll find out. That is, if she shows up." The redhead craned his neck to look over Fred and frowned. It was getting late, and dinner was just about over. Ron had literally eaten everything in sight, and Noel was nowhere to be found. Everything was fine, nothing could've happened to her. He would just give her a few more minutes, then he'd go looking for her.

Alicia Spinnet sat down at the table on the opposite side of Hermione and looked over to George. "Looking for Noel?" She asked him, to which he replied, "Yeah, where is she?"

"Up in our dorm. She looked sad. You guys didn't forget today's her birthday, right?"

George shot Jessamy 'a look' and frowned. "See what I mean?"

* * *

><p>Noel sighed, it was useless staying up in the dorm all evening. That and her stomach made loud growling noises that could probably be heard from miles away. So it was now or never, in terms of food. She put her blue sneakers on and headed downstairs. Dinner wasn't quite over yet, there had to be something left to eat. Or she'd force Ron to find something for her. If he didn't eat it all.<p>

But something made her stop at the bottom of the stairs. The common room was decorated in streamers and balloons, and a giant banner that read '_Happy Birthday, Noel!_' Though she couldn't see what else was there because everyone sitting in the room shouted, "Surprise!"

Needless to say, Noel was definitely taken aback. No one had thrown her a real party since she was fourteen, and that was from the Weasley's. Her family wasn't very big on parties, her parents thought they were frivolous and boring. The most that was ever done on a family members birthday was you'd get a card, one present and you'd get your choice of what to have for dinner that night. And Noel always picked meatloaf, it was one of her favorite dishes.

"For me?" Noel asked, dumbfounded and pointed to herself as she spoke.

"No, for my other beautiful girlfriend." George said as he walked up to her, putting his arm around her shoulder and led her to the couch to sit down. "Yes, of course you." He kissed the top of her head as others gathered around the table.

Noel looked down to see a table full of presents sitting there. She couldn't believe her eyes. "How did you guys do this?" She looked around to everyone. Aside from George and Fred, there was Jessamy, Evie, Hermione, Ron, Harry, Ginny and Alicia. Angelina stood nearby, but didn't seem to want to get too close to the action. Neville Longbottom wished Noel a happy birthday, saying how it was him who helped make the banner. "You guys are amazing. But I don't deserve this." She said, waving her hands in front of her.

"Well, no." Jessamy said, tossing a present into Noel's lap. "You're seventeen now! So of course you deserve it. The first of us to turn seventeen."

"When you put it that way, you make me feel so old. Hold on, I hope somebody here got me a cane, my back might give out on me." Noel laughed.

George laughed and Fred spoke up. "Look at you! You're a cradle robber!"

Noel rolled her eyes. "Not exactly, I'm ten days older than you two. Ten days doesn't qualify me as a cradle robber." Noel pointed a finger at Fred, grinning. "Maybe someone else is the cradle robber here." Fred's face immediately flushed and he attempted to change the subject. "Oh look! Presents!" He looked around nervously and watched as George handed Noel the first present. Jessamy sat in front of Noel, her cheeks a nice shade of red.

This was probably one of the best birthdays Noel ever remembered having. It wasn't the presents that made it one of the best, it was the fact that she was surrounded by people who cared about her. It wasn't that George and Fred snuck in a cake from the house elves in the kitchens. It was that she got to spent it with George. And Fred, Jessamy, everyone. Seventeen was a very important birthday for a witch or wizard. You're finally of age, you're allowed to do magic outside of school and not get warned or punished about it. Unlike that one time when Noel accidentally used a spell to lift Bryce off the ground and break his wrist.

After eating way too much cake, laughing to the point of tears, most everyone had gone upstairs to bed. It was still a school night, but that didn't stop George and Noel from sitting downstairs in front of the fire, for just a bit longer. "You didn't have to do all of this you know." Noel whispered, her cheek resting upon George's shoulders as they sat on the couch.

With George's arm around the blonde's shoulders, he kissed the top of her head before replying. "I wanted to. I know your parents don't do things like this. But we did. It was never anything lavish, but it was always surrounded by family. Just because your family isn't like that, doesn't mean you don't deserve it." George couldn't help but smile. Just being there with Noel like this, felt completely right. Sure he had girlfriends before Noel, but no one ever seemed to match up to the blonde. And none of them ever received affection from Molly Weasley. His mother was the ultimate test with girlfriends, and Molly Weasley had loved Noel ever since the blonde was eleven. "Just so you know, I'm in this completely. Not just some quick thing, I'm in this for the long run." The redhead wasn't quite sure where that came from, but he felt the need to say it.

Noel lifted her head, causing George to face her. It wasn't that she was surprised to hear George say that. She was just surprised that he'd said something like this so early on in their relationship. Though they had been going out almost seven months now. The words weren't coming out of her mouth. If she even spoke now, everything would come out jumbled and would scare George off. So instead, she leaned forward, pressing her lips to George's.

This was definitely the best birthday Noel has ever had. Seventeen was going to be one of the best years yet, she could feel it.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Yet another chapter! I've been pretty motivated recently, it also doesn't help that I've been sick the last few days and haven't had much chance to do anything else but write. My laptop has been glued to me for days now it feels and there's just one chapter left in Becoming an Adult is Difficult! I've begun working on the next in the series, and will have that up shortly after this one's finished off. Once again, I appreciate all of the favorites and alerts you guys have put up for this story! But please, if you enjoy this story, review it? It'd be nice. And thank you all again!<strong>


	15. The Sunset's Unkindness

**Disclaimer: As usual, I don't own Harry Potter or anything in the Harry Potter universe! JK Rowling does. But however, I do own Noel Honeybourne and a few random original characters that pop up in these chapters. This is the final chapter of Becoming an Adult is Difficult! I appreciate all of you that have read this, reviewed it, favorited and followed this story! I'm working on the second story of this little trilogy and will make sure to let everyone know when it's up and running! Thank you for reading, and as usual, please review!**

**Becoming an Adult is Difficult! **

**Chapter Fifteen - "The Sunset's Unkindness"**

The school year was nearly over, there were only a few things standing between Noel and summer holidays. There were a few exams left that Noel had to take, a few papers to hand in. There was the practice they had to do with nonverbal spells in Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts and Charms. It was proving to be difficult, but with practice, Noel wasn't doing too bad. Hopefully Professor McGonagall will be happy with her improvement in Transfiguration, as she was really starting to enjoy the subject. And then in Charms, they had to try and perform the water-making spell, Aguamenti. Jessamy was the first one to do this in their class, though she nearly blasted Noel away with the force of water erupting from her wand. Fred found this hilarious. George? Not so much.

In the time between Noel's birthday at the end of March, to the end of May, George and Fred turned seventeen, along with Jessamy. It was funny how all four of them were mere weeks apart, Noel being born on March 23rd, the twins on April 1st and Jessamy on April 8th. Evie's birthday wasn't until the middle of the summer. In a letter from home, her mother promised her that her father would take her for her apparition exam. She was finally old enough to apparate now, that was bloody terrifying, Noel shuddered at the thought.

Now it was soon time to pack up and after finishing exams and watching the final task in the Triwizard Tournament, it'll be time to head back home. Noel sat on her bed, books scattered everywhere, pieces of parchment littered the floor around her bed, she sighed. While looking around the empty room, she thought about how quickly these last six years went by. It seemed like just yesterday where she was entering the first year girl's dormitory for the very first time. Five little first years, all terrified of being away from home, meeting new people and trying not to blow themselves up in class. And all while learning how to share one bathroom with five growing girls.

_Friday_ _September 1__st__, 1989_

_The new batch of first years huddled together, just before entering the Great Hall. Hogwarts was big, scary and no matter where she looked, Noel wasn't sure if she'd be able to fit into this place. Almost every face around her was unfamiliar, except for Jessamy Hollingberry, her best friend. They'd been friends for as long as they could remember, their parents had known each other before their children were born. And Fred and George Weasley. Noel wasn't exactly their friend, but she had a run in with them at Flourish and Blotts. Fred took her copy of 'A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration' off of the shelf just as she was reaching for it and ruffled her hair as he walked away. Apparently George had witnessed the whole thing, and brought the book back to Noel. That was the first time they met._

_Once the cluster of first years entered the Great Hall, Noel was suddenly nervous having everyone's faces on them. What if she was sorted into Slytherin? Her family would be devastated. Noel's father was in Gryffindor, her mother and brother were both in Ravenclaw. Her big brother Bryce, he was sitting at the Ravenclaw table and gave his little sister a quick thumbs up as she walked by. It was one of the few times when her brother acknowledged her in public. After all, Bryce was cool, he had a reputation to uphold, he didn't want to be seen with his little sister following him around everywhere._

_One by one, everyone was sorted into their houses. Being thankful it went by alphabetical order, Jessamy was sorted right before Noel. "Gryffindor!" The hat shouted when her friend sat down in the chair, huge grin spread across her tiny little face. Once Jessamy sat down at the Gryffindor table, it was Noel's turn. The blonde walked up to the stool and sat down. She was afraid to look at anyone directly, though she did catch glimpse of her brother. Maybe he was hoping for his little sister to be sorted into Ravenclaw. Maybe her parents would be proud to have both their children put into Ravenclaw. But Noel wanted to live her own life. She wanted to do things her way, she didn't want to live out the dreams of her parents. Or her brother. There was only one Noel Honeybourne in the world, and she wanted to do things her way. _

"_Gryffindor!" The sorting hat shouted, causing Noel to hop off the stool and take a seat next to Jessamy at the Gryffindor table. All around her people were clapping, other Gryffindors patted her back, Jessamy even hugged her. All the while she looked over to the Ravenclaw table, and even though she was sorted into a different house, her brother still clapped for her._

_Once all the first years were sorted, and Dumbledore welcomed everyone, they began eating. A dark haired girl to Noel's right stuck out her hand and smiled. "I'm Evelyn Walker! But just call me Evie." Noel smiled. It seemed that George and Fred were also sorted into Gryffindor, they sat across the table from Noel. Maybe Noel was wrong about this place, the least she could do was give it a chance. Maybe it'll even change her life forever._

Noel quickly snapped back to reality. It was also so hard to believe that they only had one more year of school left and then they'd be off on their own, in the real world. At least Fred and George were in talks of running their own joke shop after Hogwarts. Noel had absolutely no idea what she wanted to do with her life. Travel? She has always wanted to go to Australia, or even visit Jessamy in Tokyo one of these years. She even thought about possibly working at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, her parents were very pushy when it came to her becoming a healer. Noel's mother used to be a healer before she left to take care of her own mum full time, and her aunts and great grandmum were all healers. That was a possibility at least, Noel just had to work extra hard in her classes next school year. She decided she'd at least think about it. It wouldn't hurt to have multiple options open for her.

Though one thing she'd been thinking an awful lot about lately was quidditch. The absence of the sport this year at school made Noel miss it even more. With her father in the ministry, working for the Department of Magical Games and Sports, she could at least ask him a few questions about it. Though her parents always wished for her to become a healer, Noel knew that deep down her father would be thrilled if she went on to play quidditch. Just maybe, she'd be brave enough to do something she wanted to do with her life. Like George and Fred were. They knew what they wanted, what made them happy, even if it isn't what their parents wanted for them. Noel just needed to be as brave as those two, then perhaps she could make a dream come true.

Maybe being a professional quidditch player wasn't completely out of her reach.

* * *

><p>The days were continually getting longer, the sun was shining and the air was finally getting warmer. Winter was officially gone, no more cold snow on the grounds, no more having to bundle up in multiple layers if you wanted to go outside. Now you could get away without wearing a jacket. It wasn't exactly shorts weather yet, but this'll do. It'll be difficult to enjoy this weather next year, since Noel will be smack-dab in the middle of taking her NEWT exams.<p>

Since it was nice outside, Noel took some of her books outside with her. It'd be nice to just sit underneath a tree and get some work done. She had already taken her end of the year exams in Potions, History of Magic and Herbology. All she had left to study for were Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms and Transfiguration. Just those three subjects stood between Noel Honeybourne and her very last summer holiday.

With _A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration _open on her lap, Noel began reading. It was the next exam on her schedule, and she was determined to get her best grade yet. Though she must've really been concentrating, because when someone standing in front of her spoke, Noel nearly jumped out of her skin. "Holy crickets!" Noel gasped, nearly throwing her book in front of her.

Cedric Diggory smiled, sitting down next to the blonde. "Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you."

Noel's heart felt like it was going to burst out of her chest, this is what happened when she finally concentrated on studying, someone had to go and scare her to death. "It's okay. I blame good ol' Bookie, here." The blonde smiled, picking the transfiguration book up and showing it to Cedric.

"Bookie?" He asked, still smiling.

"Yeah, just thought of it. We've been spending so much time together lately, I figured he deserved a name." Noel laughed, perhaps she was going crazy from all of this studying. She finally cracked.

Cedric laughed, patting Noel on the shoulder. "Your book is even a he? Come on, I think you should take a break." He said, gently picking up her book and setting it down on the grass in front of her. "So, your boyfriend isn't going to come down here and punch me for talking to you alone, is he?"

Hopefully not. "Doubt it. You two have been getting along lately. Honestly, it's surprising. And I'm proud. Of you both." Noel replied. The beginning of the year it seemed like those two hated each other, and now, they were getting along.

Cedric leaned back against the tree and sighed. "You know I've had a crush on you for a while now." Noel went to speak but Cedric shook his head, allowing himself to continue. "And I had every intention of trying to win you over but when you and George got together, you looked so happy. The way he would make you laugh, you'd get that little crinkle on your nose. I never saw anyone else who was able to make you laugh like he has. He's protective of you, not that I wouldn't have been. It's just, that if it can't be me making you so happy, I'm glad it's George Weasley."

Noel sat there, trying to tell the tears welling up in her eyes to stop. She didn't want to cry in front of Cedric. But Cedric wasn't done yet. "I really wanted to ask you out, but George beat me to the punch. You should see the way you two look at each other. You may not see it, but others do. You're keeping one of the prankster kings in line." Noel eyed Cedric, grinning. "Well, almost. Did he have to blow up the toilet in the prefect bathroom up on the fourth floor?"

The pair sat there and laughed. "Let me say something." Noel said, turning to face Cedric. "I'm really glad you found Cho. I guess you can say we're both incredibly lucky?" She asked, smiling at Cedric. When he only smiled in response, Noel reached forward and ruffled his shaggy brown hair, laughing at the same time.

"Did you just mess my hair up? My beautiful, perfect hair?" Cedric asked, pretended to be upset at what Noel had just done.

"Oh? That's perfect hair? I thought you'd just woken up, rolled out of bed and went, check out my beautiful hair, Hogwarts!" Noel joked, standing up in an attempt to impersonate Cedric. "You should market wigs. Cedric Wigs. Your fan club would love them!" Noel joked as she sat back down. But then she wasn't sure if she made fun of Cedric, by mentioning his fan club. "Oh, sorry."

"About what?" The dark haired Hufflepuff asked, frowning. "Oh, my fan club? You learn to ignore them after a while. There's far worse out there to worry about." He smiled, causing Noel to smile. "But maybe I'd be rich if I made wigs." Cedric had his hand on his chin, pretending to seriously consider the proposition.

Noel and Cedric sat against the tree for what seemed like hours, just talking. It was like the pair hadn't quite gotten to know each other, but now had the opportunity to do so. When the sun began to set and the sky began to darken, Cedric spoke up. "We should probably head back inside. But there's something I wanted to give you first." The taller boy reached into his backpack, pulling out a leather-bound book. "I meant to give this to you on your birthday. But it wasn't exactly finished on time." He smiled, handing the book over to Noel. "Don't read it now. But it's a journal. I went around to everyone I could think of and had them write a page about you. Memories, their thoughts of you, whatever they wanted."

Noel was taken aback. This was one of the most beautiful things she had ever received. Her fingers brushed against the leather cover, turning the book over in her hands. "This is wonderful. But you didn't have to do this for me." She said, hugging the book to her chest as if it would be taken away from her.

"You always say that," Cedric spoke, putting his hands on Noel's shoulders. "But you do deserve it. You've helped so many people out and you don't even realize it. You helped me out. And you deserve to be happy." He smiled, pulling the blonde in for a hug.

She helped Cedric Diggory out? But how? And from what? Noel had so many questions, but she didn't know how to ask them. Instead, she wrapped her arms around Cedric and smiled. "Thank you." She whispered. They stood there like that for a minute or two before pulling apart. Once they began walking back to the castle, Noel kept a tight grip on the book in her hands. "Noel?" Cedric asked.

"Hmm?" Was all Noel could do to reply.

"How about we go to a Puddlemere United match this summer? Do you think George would mind?" Cedric asked, already knowing Noel's answer.

Noel turned to Cedric and grinned. "I can see it now, he'd say I need a chaperone, and he's conveniently available to be our chaperone. But it does sound like fun."

The Hufflepuff nodded and when they entered Hogwarts, he turned to the blonde once more. "We'll write to each other this summer."

"And I'll ask my dad about Puddlemere match tickets." Noel responded, ruffling Cedric's hair once more before beginning to walk away. "Good luck in the last task! We'll be watching!" Noel waved to Cedric before he turned to enter the Great Hall. Little did Noel Honeybourne know was that that would be the last time she'd ever speak to Cedric Diggory again.

* * *

><p>The day of the final task in the Triwizard Tournament had finally arrived. All exams were over with, no more papers, no more projects. No more having to listen to Snape drone on and on about things Noel didn't even remember at that point. All that was left to do was pack to go back home. But that could wait, at that moment they were leaving to head down to the quidditch pitch, which is where the final task was being held. They didn't know anything about the task yet, but maybe they'd get a bit more information than what they had for the second task back in February.<p>

It was warm out, and thankfully it was warm enough to warrant shorts. Noel would probably regret it later, but she didn't care. It was nice not having to dress like an Eskimo anymore. Noel made her way down to the pitch with George at her side, Jessamy and Fred had been walking behind them. "Glad to be going home tomorrow?" George asked, interrupting Noel's thoughts.

The blonde shrugged her shoulders, stuffing her hands into her short's pockets. "Yes and no. I want to sleep in my own bed, but I won't get to see you everyday." No George making her nearly shoot pumpkin juice out of her nose at dinner. No George feeding Draco Malfoy a Canary Cream. No Fred and George fighting over who was the better looking twin. Even though Noel would always say it was George.

"Not to worry, m'lady." George smiled, taking one of Noel's hands out of her pockets and linking their fingers together. "We'll think of something."

They finally reached the quidditch pitch, it seemed like everyone in the school had gathered. Family members of each Champion were also there, Noel remembered spotting Amos Diggory and waving hello to him before they sat down. Fleur Delacour's little sister, Gabrielle, she later found out, was also there. Noel couldn't quite tell if anyone from Viktor Krum's family was present, and she knew no one from Harry Potter's would show up. Thankfully Harry had everyone else to be there and support him. They all clapped and cheered when the four champions stood up and approached Dumbledore, who began explaining the final task. At least they were going to get some information this time.

Dumbledore began explaining what the four champions would be facing. They would have to travel through a maze to reach the Triwizard Cup, which was at the center of the maze. Of course there would be some sort of catch, the maze would be lined up with all sorts of traps. Dangers, obstacles if you'd like to call it, but nobody knew what Dumbledore meant by it exactly. The champions would all enter the maze at different times, depending on what place they were currently in. Harry and Cedric would get to enter the maze first, since they were both tied for first place. Followed by Viktor Krum and then Fleur Delacour soon after. If anyone was in distress, Dumbledore mentioned to send red sparks up into the sky and someone would come after them. Noel sighed, hopefully no one would need to use that today.

"At the sound of the cannon, the champions can start entering the maze in the order specified earlier." Dumbledore's voice boomed throughout the stands. It was now or never, Noel thought as she stood there. _Good luck, Cedric and Harry_.

When they heard the sound of the cannon, both Harry and Cedric entered the maze. Soon followed by Krum, then Fleur. Now they just had to wait and see who would emerge victorious.

Most people sat back down in their seats, others still stood. Noel was one who sat back down, because there was no telling how long this would take. Jessamy was still standing, as if something exciting was going to happen right away. George sat back down, patting Noel's leg with his hand. "Who do you think's going to win?" She asked him.

"As long as it isn't Krum." George said, looking over at Ron, who was sitting with Hermione Granger.

Noel smiled, shaking her head. "I'm not so sure he's the leader of Krum's fan club anymore."

George raised his eyebrows. "Perhaps. Maybe Krum was what Ron needed to light the fire under his ass. Get him to realize he likes Hermione."

Noel held out her hand. "Bet you Ron won't realize just how much he likes Hermione until after they graduate."

George sat there for a moment, as if seriously thinking about this. He shook Noel's hand, grinning. "What do I get if I win this bet?" He asked with a mixture of curiosity and mischievousness.

"Hmm." Now that was something Noel had to think about. Having any sort of bet with either Weasley twin was a dangerous thing. "If you win, I'll be your slave for the day." George's grin grew wider. "George Weasley! Stop thinking that way!" The blonde smacked his arm.

"What? Can't I think of my girlfriend that way? Well, it hasn't stopped me.." George was cut off by Jessamy taking hold of George's shoulders and shaking him. "Stop putting those images into my brain, Weasley!"

Noel and Fred exchanged glances, and laughed. "Should we save him?"

Fred shook his head. "Nah, this is fun. She's beating the crap out of him and not me for once!" Fred gave Noel a high-five.

"A little help here?" George pleaded, he could easily get Jessamy to stop. But if he tried, the brunette would probably get even more violent.

Fred and Noel sat there for a few more minutes. Fred would sit there all day and watch Jessamy pummel George into the ground, but Noel decided her boyfriend had had enough. "Okay, okay. Jessamy, sit down." Noel said, taking hold of Jessamy's shoulders and guiding her back to her seat. "I'd like my boyfriend in one piece, please."

"My hero!" George said in a high pitched voice, causing Jessamy to flip him a not so kind gesture.

"Now." Noel said as she sat back down between Jessamy and George. "If I win, you have to wear Ron's frilly dress robes and dance to whatever muggle song I can find. Deal?" Noel held out her hand to George again, which he promptly took. "Deal."

Fred chimed in but Noel didn't hear what he said. Red sparks flew up into the sky from inside the maze. Moments later, Fleur Delacour appeared, and not too long after, Viktor Krum. Noel felt her heart racing, that meant whoever won the tournament would be from Hogwarts! All they had to do was wait and see who it was.

It took ages for anything to happen. Not really, but it felt like ages. Soon enough, both Harry and Cedric appeared, with the Triwizard Cup in hand. Both boys were on the ground, Harry shouting something. Everyone stood up at this point, some even started rushing the ground to congratulate both boys on their victory.

But Noel will never be able to forget hearing Fleur's screams and Amos Diggory's shouts. Did someone say Cedric was dead? Harry Potter said Cedric was dead. Noel stopped in her tracks, her right hand covering her mouth.

"He's back! Voldemort's back. Cedric told me to bring his body back! Voldemort killed Cedric." Harry shouted. Everything was suddenly quiet. No one knew what to do. Moody eventually led Harry away, and Dumbledore tried to control the crowd.

At some point during Harry's announcement that Voldemort was back, Noel grasped George's hand and was too afraid to let go. If George hadn't squeezed her hand back as reassurance, Noel wasn't sure what would've happened.

* * *

><p>Cedric Diggory was dead. No, Cedric Diggory was murdered. By Lord Voldemort. Noel was just a toddler when he rose to power the first time, so she didn't remember anything. If it was true what Harry said, then did this mean there would be another war? As terrified as she was, Noel would fight. She had to. Her life was starting to have some sort of meaning, she didn't want to have it all stripped away from her now.<p>

Everyone sat in the Great Hall the next day. They were all to go home for summer holiday, celebrate the end of another school year. Normally the Hall would be decorated with banners from whichever house won the House Cup. But not this year. Everything was decorated in Cedric's honor. Noel hadn't cried yet, she didn't want to. Perhaps the news just hadn't sunk in yet. But she sat there at the Gryffindor table, George grasping her hand underneath it, as everyone listened to Dumbledore speak.

"Today, we acknowledge a very terrible loss. Cedric Diggory was exceptionally hard working, infinitely fair minded, and most importantly, a fierce friend. Therefore, I feel you have the right to know exactly how he died. You see, Cedric Diggory was murdered. By Lord Voldemort. The Ministry of Magic doesn't want me telling you any of this, but not to do so would be an insult to Cedric's memory. Now the pain we all feel at this dreadful loss reminds me, reminds us that though we may come from different countries and speak in different tongues, our hearts beat as one. In light of the recent events, the bonds of friendship we made this year will be more important than ever. And also, remember that Cedric Diggory will not have died in vain. I want all of you to remember that and we'll celebrate a boy who was kind, honest, brave and true. Right down to the very end."

That was the very first time Noel cried after Cedric died, and George didn't once let go of her hand.

* * *

><p>The train ride back to King's Cross seemed like any normal ride back home. Noel sat in a compartment with George, Fred and Jessamy. Evie had decided to sit with the boy who asked her to the Yule Ball, but she had popped in to see how Noel was doing. Noel sat closest to the window, her chin in her hand as she watched the scenery zoom by. Trees, mountains, the tunnel, some cows here and there. George nudged her arm every once in a while, to see if she needed anything. Each time she shook her head, whispering a soft '<em>No<em>' whenever he asked.

The leather bound book that Cedric had given Noel right before he died sat on her lap. She still hadn't cracked it open. Now seemed to be the perfect time, but she knew that the moment she did, she'd cry all over again. Finally, she took her gaze away from the greenery outside. Fred and Jessamy were playing cards in the seat across from them, laughing like always. George sat next to her, the smile reappearing on his face when he noticed Noel's eyes on him.

George didn't want to push Noel to talk. And honestly, he was afraid of her being alone once they both went home. Noel wasn't as fortunate as he was in having so many people constantly around. George had four other siblings at home with him, and his parents. Even though his father worked, he still always made time for his family. Noel wasn't as lucky, not that her parents neglected her. There were just other things that took priority over the youngest Honeybourne. Her father's job kept him away a lot, and her mother was caretaker to Noel's grandmother. George didn't care what his mother said, he was going to visit Noel as often as possible this summer.

Once the train stopped and everyone began walking back onto Platform 9 ¾, they knew it was really time for summer. People bustled about, parents hugging their children, others lugging their belongings along with them. But Noel refused to loosen her grip on the leather book in her hands.

Jessamy grabbed Noel and hugged her as tight as possible, causing Noel to wince. "Ow. Ribs. Shattering. Can't. Breathe." She groaned lightly, Jessamy let go of her and put her hands on her best friend's shoulders. "Listen you. Everything's fine. I'll be in London with dad. If you need anything, I'll be there for you. But I'll be there for your brother's wedding. I promise." The pair hugged again before Jessamy took her things and walked to meet up with her father, who was waiting a few feet away. Mr. Hollingberry waved to Noel, who waved back with a sad smile on her face.

"Hey, kid." Fred wrapped an arm around Noel's shoulders. "I know you're going to miss me terribly but don't fret. Something tells me we're going to be seeing a lot of one another this summer." He grinned. "Don't corrupt my dear brother too much." Noel smacked his shoulder. "I'll see you soon, Honeybourne!" And with that, Fred was off to meet up with his family.

That left just George and Noel. George saw Molly waiting for him near a pillar and smiled when she saw Noel. "Did you tell your mum? I mean, about us?" Noel asked quietly, her arms still protecting the book in her grasp.

"Oh yes, she's over the moon. Went on and on in a letter about how it's about time. But seriously, if you need anything, you know I'll be there for you in an instant." George said, leaning forward and pressing his forehead against Noel's. George didn't care if any of his family happened to be watching him. "Me and my parents will be there for the wedding. I can try and convince mum to let you stay with us the rest of the summer.."

Noel smiled, shaking her head. "Don't want your mum getting sick of me so quickly."

George kissed the tip of Noel's nose and smiled. "I doubt she'll ever get sick of you. You don't blow up bathroom fixtures or belch the alphabet. Well, not as well as I can." They broke apart, George finally took notice to the book Noel was carrying. "What's that?"

The blonde looked down and gave a small smile. She held up the book and George grinned. "The present Cedric gave you?" He asked, Noel nodded. "I wrote something in there, it's the second page."

Noel's parents called her name as they stood next to the Weasley's. "Why the second page?" Noel asked curiously.

"Because I let Cedric have the first page. It was the least I could do." George smiled, the pair turned around and hand in hand, walked towards their families.

* * *

><p><strong><span>Author's Note<span>: Oh wow, I can't believe it's finished! I know it took me well over a year to do, but I promise not to be so slow with the next one! I will be letting you all know when I have the second story posted, it should be up fairly quickly. Right now I'm in a pretty strange part of my life, between being out of work and school, writing this has helped me along the way. I will admit, I felt depressed throughout most of this story and writing this helped distract me. **

**But I want to thank everyone who reviewed Becoming an Adult is Difficult! You're all wonderful and all the input made it worthwhile. To those that added this as a favorite or put it on alerts, thank you, too! It helped let me know that you guys were interested in my story! Thank you all again and I hope you enjoyed Becoming an Adult is Difficult, and will look forward to reading the second story in the series, which will be posted soon!**


	16. Upcoming Sequel - Seventeen's Vow

**Author's Note: Okay, everyone! I have the first chapter of the next story posted. :D If anyone's interested in checking it out, it's called "Seventeen's Vow" and here's a link! … Hopefully it works!**

** s/8955785/1/Seventeen-s-Vow**

**Check it out, you wonderful people~**

**If the link doesn't work, which I doubt it will, you can find the story underneath my profile!**


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